Poster Presentation 6th World Congress on Positive Psychology 2019

This intervention involved delivery of a free online positive psychology course for sports coaches developed in partnership with the Oceania National Olympic Committees. 1880 sports coaches from 60 sports representing 44 countries completed the course. A sample of 450 (282 male and 168 female) 24% of total sample of these coaches completed an online survey in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention.

A mixed methods, quantitative and qualitative design was used. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative data was analysed using deductive thematic analysis.

80% of participants who participated in the Positive Sports Coaching intervention reported an increased understanding of mental health issues, positive psychology principles and strength based coaching.

Qualitative analysis found 4 major themes:

• Coaches identified the positive influence they can have
• Coaches recognised the importance of the language they use
• Coaches learned to focus more on the positives
• Coaches understood that a focusing on an athletes strengths has a positive impact

The Positive Sports Coaching intervention helped the coaches to be more aware of the language they use and the benefits of a strength based approach both on the mental health of their athletes but also their performance