SAUDI MALE ATHLETES’ EXPERIENCE USING MENTAL SKILLS AND ATTITUDES TOWARD SEEKING PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSISTANCE IN SPORT

Abstract

The primary aim of this research was to assess Saudi Arabian male athletes’ attitudes toward seeking sport psychology services and determine their previous experience using mental skills. As a part of the study, an Arabic version of the Sport Psychology Attitudes – Revised form (SPA-R) was developed. Transcultural translation procedures (e.g., back translation) were used to translate the SPA-R into Arabic version. Saudi male athletes (N = 222) ranging from 17 to 25 years of age with various individual and team sport experiences completed the Arabic version of SPA-R survey twice over two-weeks. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that the original theoretical structure of the phenomena existed in the version created for Arabian athletes. Follow-up analyses revealed that Saudi male athletes had high sport psychology consultant confidence and personal openness, moderately high cultural preferences, and low in stigma tolerance. Although the Arabic version of SPA-R may be useful for assessing Saudi male athletes, further research is needed with different Arab populations to verify the factor structure of the observed constructs.