Effectiveness Of Mind-Fullness Based Cognitive Therapy On Emotional Cognitive Regulation, Resiliency And Competitive Anxiety In Female Athletes

Introduction: Mindfulness is a skill that allows people to take incidents at a disadvantage in the present. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of mind-fullness based cognitive therapy on emotional cognitive regulation, resiliency and competitive anxiety in female athletes. Methods: This experimental study was a pre-test and post-test type with control group. The statistical population were all women athletes in Ahwaz who were studied in 2017 academic year. The sample consisted of 30 individuals who were selected by simple random sampling (15 in the experimental group and 15 in the control group). Before and after intervention and one month later in follow-up process, the subjects responded to research scales including resiliency, competitive anxiety and cognitive emotion regulation questionnaires. The experimental group received cognitive therapy based on mind-awareness in 8 sessions of 90 minutes each. But there was no intervention on the control group. To analyze the data, Multivariate Covariance Analysis and One Way Covariance Analysis was applied. Results: Findings showed that there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in the cognitive-emotional regulation, resiliency and competitive anxiety (P < 0.0001). The results were sustained at the follow-up stage. Conclusions: According to the results, cognitive therapy based on mind-awareness can be used to improve cognitive-emotional regulation, resiliency and competitive anxiety of female athletes.