Continuing education in sport psychology: a survey of where we are and where we need to go

ABSTRACT

A fundamental competence for psychology practitioners is to practice according to ethical standards and principles. One way to achieve these standards includes continuing education (CE). Sport psychology practitioners (SPPs) have frequently noted the importance of engaging in CE to improve professional practice, yet more research is needed on the effectiveness of the CE available to SPPs and what SPPs think they desire in terms of CE. In this exploratory study, a multinational sample of 291 (female = 158; male = 128) SPPs at different levels of professional development participated in an online survey to gather information about their CE opportunities and their perceived effectiveness. Most SPPs (n = 223) reported that CE was mandated by their professional organizations, believed in its importance, and had experienced eight CE events on average in the previous 12 months, which were generally focused more on service delivery-related issues. Participants also offered their views on the effectiveness of the CE programmes they attended and their hopes for future topics offered by CE programmes (e.g., ethics, EDI, effective service delivery). Based on the results from this study, we share some reflections on the current status quo of CE within the sport psychology profession and offer recommendations to support professional organizations to provide effective CE opportunities to their members.

KEYWORDS:

• Career
• continuing professional development
• ethics
• training

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 While we acknowledge that the terminology for professionals differs around the world due to different personal preferences, as well as legal and professional requirements, in this manuscript use the term “sport psychology professionals” to refer all professionals engaging in sport psychology work, both applied and scholarly.

2 The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, AQ.

3 NASPSPA – North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity; SCAPPS – Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology; SHAPE – Society of Health and Physical Educators; BPS – British Psychological Society; BASES – British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences; FEPSAC – European Federation of Sport Psychologyand ISSP – International Society of Sport Psychology.