To Study the Effect of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) On Cognition, Sports Anxiety, And Sports Emotion Among Injured Athletes

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the efficiency of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) intervention on cognition, sports anxiety, and sports emotion among injured athletes. This was an experimental study design involving 30 injured athletes divided into control (n=15) and experimental (n=15). The experimental group received the MBSR intervention, while the control group who were not involved to the MBSR protocol. The Vienna Test System-Cognitrone (VTS), the Sports Emotion Questionnaire (SEQ), and the Sport Competition Anxiety Test (SCAT) tests were used for the assessment of athletes. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Mann-Whitney U Test were applied for statistical analysis. The outcome showed significant improvement in the experimental group after the MBSR intervention. A notable reduction in the anxiety (Z = -3.207, p = .001) and dejection (Z = -3.301, p .01), along with a significant growth in the happiness scores (Z = -2.673, p = .008). The sports competitive anxiety also decreased significantly (Z= -3.416, p=.001). In cognition, significant reduction in reaction time for correct responses (Z = -2.215, p = .027) and fewer incorrect non-reactions (Z = -2.878, p = .004). On the other side, the control group revealed no changes across all the measures. The findings indicated that MBSR intervention is an effective psychological intervention for emotion management, reducing sports competitive anxiety, and enhancing cognitive processing speed in injured athletes.