Theory and Application

Sports Psychologists’ Ethics

Tony Williams

Argosy University

Pamela Fitzpatrick

12 April 2018

Abstract

The primary role of sports psychologists is to foster good performance and to avoid unruly behaviors in associated teams. This paper seeks to identify the ethical concerns that should be considered in the performance of sports psychologists, their relationship with stakeholders and sports participants as well as the challenges they face with consequential outcomes resulting from a violation of given ethical standards. For instance, a discussion of approaches to sports performance is discussed with respect to the enablement theory that is used in ‘activation’ of non-functional aspects of sports people. Of more importance are the relationships that exist between the institutions of sports, the sports psychologists as well as the sports participants. Aspects of athlete violation in institutions are discussed as a factor of moral erosion within institutions due to their crude strategies that aim at achieving and benefiting from students in an exchange for educational offers. Some of the students rarely attain the required standards of their lives since their talents have much been exploited earlier on in institutions of higher learning. Seemingly, the situation is not as such subject to improvement because the ethical standards have been compromised by both the institutions as well as the governing bodies and sports psychologist who should be in the forefront in the fight against impunities which make the sports people disappointed and end up in terminal disorders that severely affect their lives and future performance in sports. Some are subjected to mental torture after their managers collude with their advisors for their own benefit while leaving the player in anguish. Exploitation and irresponsibility are always central in such incidents with the therapists guiding players hypocritically since the underlying motives and outcomes are well known to them. The entire scenario is unworthy before any ethical institution and thus subject to a lengthy study and discussion.

Literature review

Professional boundaries of sports psychologist and solutions to potential problems

Sports psychologists from one of the kinds training backgrounds ought to supply services, teach, and conduct studies simplest inside the limitations in their competence. Hence, sports psychology specialists who are not aware of the ethical standards of their career can be involved in malpractices which result in the adverse fame of harming or exploiting the other party (Haberl & Peterson, 2006).

In fact, if sports psychologists violate the ethical rules of cause harm to their customers, they may be liable to face the infringement or risk of the expulsion from the expert associations. It is crucial to observe that experts and those interested in sports psychology are anticipated to take into account of getting to know the specific moral problems which have recently come about in this discipline (Silva, Metzler & Lerner, 2011).

Sports psychologists are necessarily maintained in common touch with athletes, coaches, and management staffs. The trouble derived from this near interaction may also be the look of dual relationships between sports psychologists and their clients. Commonly, a couple of links may also arise at some point of exercise and intervention in recreation psychology, possibly developing moral dilemmas for concerned events

Even as imparting offerings to those elite athletes, for instance, the Olympic athletes, all of the sports psychology regularly have interaction and tour with the groups inside the schooling centers or at the avenue for competitions, in which long-term relationships are constructed up. Practitioners are housed near the athletes, consume meals with the group, attend practices to take a look at, and impressions individually with athletes and coaches.

Meanwhile, individual or group consulting and training offerings are furnished with the aid of sports psychology practitioners, such as arousal/stimulation law, purpose placing, imagery, attention, management, and so forth. Majority of sport psychology professionals are possible to be employed in a few kinds of tertiary institutional settings, wherein the instructor-practitioner bi-position relationships might also arise more often than in different expert realms (Haberl & Peterson, 2006).

However, the downside of this relationship has been observed that the sports psychology professional can also encounter time regulations from acting two separate roles. This time drawback may additionally, in the end, compel the character to sacrifice the time necessary to obtain the obligations of both functions, thus impairing the proper dual operations in each region.

Wearing Multiple Hats

The present competitors encounter an assortment of weights and stress with regards to games and sports. Numerous competitors, groups, and coaches are taking advantage over the sports psychologist professionals to help them in accomplishing their execution objectives. In that capacity, influential therapists are winding up increasingly acknowledged as a general piece of the training and care staff for groups and individual competitors. It is perceived that the mind needs to function as ideally as the body for fruitful execution (Silva, Metzler and Lerner, 2011).

A sports psychologist assumes a primary part in giving their athletes a psychological edge rather than a physical edge. While you may accept that therapists work with patients when they are having issues, yet in the realm of games, an expert will enable competitors to prepare mental methodologies so they can move beyond a level or beat challenges so they can perform well and handle the weight (O'Brien, 2000).

It is evident that the practitioners of sports psychology go through a lot of the similar challenges. One of these demanding situations is ethical worries that have acquired attention these days within particular journals of sports psychology. Primarily, based on the angle of the American Psychological Association (APA), ethics is defined as the regulations or standards dealing with the behavior of participants.

However, for the sports psychologists, there have been numerous moral issues which have emerged, where there may be a want to be cautious to keep exceptional services. The number one subjects to consider consist of factors of confidentiality, practicing inside barriers of competence, utilization of knowledgeable agreement, terminating the practitioner-athlete -relationship, and lastly balancing more than one role and organizational needs. In APA’s code of ethics (APA, 2002), psychologists are endorsed to keep away from getting into a couple of relationship with clients, to maintain confidentiality for clients, and to work within competence to lessen capability impairment of themselves or damage to the clients (Smith & Bar-Eli, 2015).

The provision of sport psychology offerings to coaches, athletes, and other staff on the particular team seems unavoidable for the consultants, or the coaches to involve themselves in these multiple-role situations. For a sports psychologist, to provide quality services and to avoid ethical misinterpretation, defining boundaries and emphasizing confidentiality issues in addition to function expectations at the outset and during the connection is critical (Haberl & Peterson, 2006).

Sports psychologists being fully engaged with daily interventions and should have a long term relationships with clients capable of a partner with any other sports activities psychology representative at the same time as on the road would be an even higher solution to handling self-care issues on these devastating conditions. It would undoubtedly assist to have a second individual available to avoid the dangers brought up by multiple interactive relations. For a coach, it will be even better to have a sports psychology consultant for the team. Although being a consultant-coach benefits convenience and efficiency, a diligent coach should provide professional and every kind of information to help the consultant develop appropriate mental training programs for his/ her team (Smith & Bar-Eli, 2015).

Further, previous studies advocate that there may be consensus inside the area of sports psychology that more than one positional interaction may be ethical if handled appropriately. However, practitioners still need to be prudent when entering into a multiple-role linkage, second, how to maintain confidentiality is a critical issue in the field of applied sports psychology. Sports psychologists need to learn the ethical guidelines regarding privacy in the AASP or local related organizations. Then, they are obligated to take reasonable precautions to maintain the confidentiality of their work and to keep everything secret unless they get permission from their clients (Silva, Metzler and Lerner, 2011).

The growing recognition of the sector of implemented sports psychology along with the specific nature of its service transport model keeps raising questions on the way to high-quality offer. Importantly.

Discussion

Sports psychology seeks to establish the relationship between cognitive abilities and performance in sports through impact analysis. However, performance in sports is a factor of many elements that range from individual abilities to ethics mostly associated with sports practitioners, psychologists, and governing institutions. Every individual joins a given sport with the aim of coming out better or scale up a career through exercising talent. The main role of the psychologist is the provision of advice to boost the performance of the various individuals. They have to utilize various ethically accepted tools to come up with concrete solutions for sports participants. The enablement theory is also essential in achieving their strategies.

Nevertheless, ethical adherence and job focusing are the primary elements that a sports psychologist is supposed to focus on. Strict measures are established to deal with any form of deviations. As per the psychologist, the primary role is enablement of psychological facets and functions that fail in sportspersons such as athletes and footballers. For instance, their role is centrally positioned and linked to the enablement theory which is crucial is the treatment of psychological abnormalities.

The Enablement Theory

The Enablement theory refers to a treatment theory that targets a non-functional character of an individual. It is concerned with the general functionality of the body. Therefore, any change in behavior is linked to failure (disablement) of a given function (Jarvenpaa, and Tuunainen, 2013). Expert sports psychologists should thus utilize the theory in the identification of problems and their characteristic signs and symptoms. Treatment is initiated once the disorder and its associated functional part are identified. If the body has some deficit, the ultimate aim of any clinical personnel is to bring about activity or participation. It is believed that behavioral involvement or participative behavior is much impaired in cases where sports people and other individuals consume substances such as alcohol as for the case of players.

Therefore, the theory is much essential in bringing about behavioral change once a problem is identified. Besides, states of anxiety sleep disorders, and dissocial character may be associated with an impaired function which tends to affect excellent performance in sports. For instance, poor performance can be related to nonfunctional abilities related to mistreatment. Adrenaline stimulates the body to act according to our level of activity; thus during stress and tiredness, it activates other body activities such as sleep and mood swings. On the other hand, adrenal and cortisol hormones are responsible for anxiety levels. This implies that enablement theory is very useful in the rehabilitation process (Whyte, 2014).

Enablement theory can be combined with Dialectal behavior therapy to improve performance further. The approach seeks to identify personality issues. Theoretical and practical adjustments are initiated to broaden the scope of understanding of one’s behavior hence giving appropriate treatment. It is an ideal approach for individuals with borderline disorders.

Exploitation of Players

For cases where there is manipulation in the counseling of players especially athletes, the top-level management may attain a given strategy that directly exploits the participants. The sports psychologist may be aware of the suffering caused by players, but the administration insists that that is the right procedure on how things should work. This presents an ethical dilemma to them as they have to deal with the mental torture of athletes as well as advise the management on proper treatment for the players.

Taking into account the scenario of student-athletes in a school; Higher education institutions, (universities and colleges) hold football and athletic championships frequently. It’s during these times that the institutions seek to absorb and accommodate young individuals only for their potential and talents. The freshmen and women usually aged between the age of 16 to 20 years old informally agree to enter deals with the universities they join. The university taps their athletic performance in return for the educational urge.

A keen look at the contracts between the student-athletes and the university will reveal a vast disparity regarding benefits to either party. Universities and other colleges have earned massive gate receipts and television revenues. As the media capture these events to broadcast them to their viewers, there is an improved national image whose effect results in increased number of enrolments in the said institutions. Again to mention, is the benefits from donors who come in the name of supporting and nurturing of young talents. It is evident that the coaches and staff are the other categories of individuals who reap big out of these contracts. The NCAA is in charge of sports student protection against exploitation. Student sport and athletic participation is a vocation, and therefore they are subject to legal protection (National Collegiate Athletic Association, National Collegiate Athletic Association. Committee on Competitive Safeguards, & Medical Aspects of Sports, 2002).  Therefore, much has to be done by the NCAA harmonize the terms of agreements between the institutions and the student-athletes to give adequate support and flexibility to the sports psychologists.

Results of Ethical Compromise

It's every player’s dream to join national teams to sign into multi-million dollar contracts. Regarding athletes urge to earn, most of them put in unimaginable efforts to be noticed by agents of civic clubs, but the bitter truth is that out of the thousands of these young, ambitious players, a couple of them do qualify for the available national teams. So it is a moral initiative to compel the institutions involved to remit part of the profits to the junior athletes to improve their welfare even at their early ages.

Most athletes who don’t get to sign the multi-dollar contracts would at the end of the day experience exhaustion of their bodies. For instance, the tired muscles, shattered bones, worn-out knees, hips and shoulders, ligaments and tendons are prevalent among them. Therefore, as it turns out, colleges; especially senior stakeholders have gotten rich off their sports teams. These colleges should look into the welfare of the athletes utilized in extra curriculum activities.

Other scholars were of a little different viewpoint. They claim that the student-athletes instead exploit the institutions. But even if these students do graduate, there shall still be claims that the college athlete department has been misused. Such claims do not hold water. Therefore, sports psychologists should be incorporated in institutions instead, to give guidance on how the institutions should handle the sportspersons and foster healthy relations that can trigger impulsive success in diverse sporting areas.

Appropriate solutions for each of the potential pitfalls

Ethical concerns among the sports psychologists have been identified in some studies. For instance, the sports psychologists encounter typical ethical issues during the process of offering services to the student-athletes or even the Olympic teams. Some of the potential pitfalls are associated with areas such as competence boundaries, confidentiality, and multiple role associations among others. Appropriate solutions to these potential pitfalls will help the sports psychologist’s consultants to become helpful in guaranteeing high-quality service and even support the know-how of the sports psychologists (Murphy, 2012). It is clear that personnel of sports psychology experience most of the challenges just like those seen in applied realms since the development of the professional psychologists who decide to operate with large athletic organizations, teams, and individual athletes.

Ethical concerns are an area of sports psychology that continues to challenge the sports psychologists. Ethics is regarded as an area of constant awareness of an individual’s practices, values, beliefs, and knowledge. As a result, there is need to highlight the necessary practical services to enhance the sports psychology as a profession (Webbe, 2011). Nonetheless, the sports psychologists experience dilemmas that arise from the exceptional sports situation that requires the demands of specific services. There is a need for the sports psychologists to become precautious to sustain quality services since there are some ethical issues that have developed. Some of the major areas of concern for the sports psychologists include balancing organizational demands, relationships, and multiple roles.

Termination of the client-practitioner relationship, practising with the competence boundaries, use of informed consent and issues of confidentiality are other potential pitfalls areas to the sports psychologists. The sports psychologists experience the issue of confidentiality and the possible occurrence for the dual role relationships as a result of the small size of the communities necessary to facilitate contact between the psychologists and their clients (International Society of Sports Psychology, 2007). A great solution to this major pitfall is for the sports psychologists to prevent getting into multiple relations with their clients. This process will help sustain the confidentiality for the clients and get the opportunity to work with competence with an objective to reduce reasonably the potential impairments within them or even harm their clients.

The sports psychologists should be inspired to become sensitive to the potential harm in case the unintended impact of social and other non-professional contacts in the work and individuals who they relate with needs to be obliged to take and uphold reasonable precautions to honour the confidentiality rights of the individuals they deal with. The sports psychologists from diverse training backgrounds should conduct research, teach, and deliver services within the confines of their competence (National Athletic Trainers Association, 2010). Besides, the sports psychologists especially those unaware of ethical principles within their profession are likely to be involved in misconducts which lead to bad reputation that eventually exploits or harm other parties.

The sports psychologists should not infringe the ethical regulations and later cause damage to clients. This way, the sports psychologists are likely to risk expulsion from professional associations. It is essential to consider that professionals and people interested in the application of sports psychology should be mindful of learning particular ethical issues that have taken place within this discipline. The sports psychologists develop the issue of close interaction because of the dual relationship between the clients and the sports psychologists (Schinke, 2016). The issue is inevitable because of the regular contact with the management staff, coaches, and athletes while working with sports organizations and athletic teams.

The strategies to deal with any of the ethical dilemmas that can occur between SPPs and their clients

A dual relationship is an area that results in ethical dilemmas between the clients and the sports psychologists. Multiple associations are likely to occur throughout intervention and practice within sports psychology which eventually creates ethical dilemmas for the parties involved (Murphy, 2012). It is important to consider the three types of dual relationships that take place between the clients and the sports psychologist’s practitioners. The relationship includes teacher-practitioner, consultant-coach, and the companion-practitioner multiple-roles relationships. The ideal way to address this problem is through working effectively with the sporting teams and be regarded part of the group. However, such as case cannot happen for a consultant in sports psychologists when supposed as a neutral outsider.

Timely and quick interventions are essential when the athletes motivate themselves to do something different or get motivated from that they do on a regular basis. The main challenge to this approach is the issue of traditional boundaries that the psychologists often sustain with their clients (Webbe, 2011). For example, it becomes almost unavoidable for the relationship to shift from professional to social level and back because of the possibility of recurrent interpersonal relations. Nonetheless, there are some benefits associated with the dual relationship because of the heightened contact, trust, and opportunity. As a consequence, the practitioners need to delineate the roles that take place under such circumstances to uphold their confidentiality and profession.

The lots of time spent and much familiarity is another concern that the sports psychologists are likely to develop with the team and it poses a potential threat to service delivery. The threat is apparent especially when the team triumphs and losses and shifts to individual triumphs and losses among the sports psychologists (International Society of Sports Psychology, 2007). In such circumstances, there is the possibility of the vague boundary which confuses the objectivity of the judgement involving the sports psychologists. As a result, the sports psychologists need to learn the ways to create a neutral standpoint to address such issues. Sometimes teacher-practitioner dual relationship is an area of ethical concern that results in dilemmas. As a result, the sports psychologist’s practitioners need to be cautious of such situations.

The sports psychologist’s practitioners are likely to choose ways to get involved in the multiple role relationships compared to other fields. However, inadequate focus placed on ethical education within sports psychology and the consequent lack of explication associated with ethical standards appear to be issues that need to be noted (National Athletic Trainers Association, 2010). This problem could be addressed when the sport psychology programs within the United States offer courses where ethics remains the fundamental area. Besides, the perception of sport psychology practices as less clinically but more education should be based on psychology programs coupled with adequate training on ethics within the sports psychologists program.

Studies have discussed the ethical concerns, advantages, and limitations of the consultant-coach multiple-role associations as an area of great concern that requires to be addressed. The basis of the ethical concern is the time limitation that compels an individual to sacrifice the time required to attain the responsibilities of both roles (Schinke, 2016). As a consequence, the quality of work in both areas becomes impaired which violates the ethical standards needed. The dilemma arises when interpersonal conflict emerges between the consultant-coach and the team members because if inadequate provision of sports psychology profession. In essence, sports psychologists should uphold confidentiality and ethical standards to be in a position to address the dilemma entirely.

Conclusion

Erosion of ethical standards in the society is the cause of moral as well as ethical dilemmas that result in misappropriation and violation of rights of individuals. For instance, manipulation of ethics by therapists has severe consequences that may render those involved ineffective in exercising their roles. Besides, the minority and powerless individuals are vulnerable to risks associated with manipulation of set norms. Therefore, each should focus on individual roles to avoid ruthless exploitation of subjects.

References

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