The Level and Type of Irrational Beliefs among Athletes in the National Disabled Athletics Team

The present study was carried out to describe the level and type of irrational beliefs among athletes in the National Disabled Athletics Team. Methods & Materials: This was a Descriptive Survey study in which 71 athletes (male & female) with a mean age of 30.2 years participated. Jones Irrational Beliefs Test (IBT) was used to collect data. The latter consists of 100 items and 10 subscales: Demand for Approval, High Self-Expectations, Blame Proneness, Frustration Reactivity, Emotional Irresponsibility, Anxious Overconcern, Problem Avoidance, Dependency, Helplessness, and Perfectionism. Among different types of irrational beliefs, the highest mean was observed in the ‘High Self-Expectations’ subscale (mean=31.38; SD=5.3). The lowest mean was observed in the ‘Problem Avoidance’ subscale (mean=24.37; SD=4.5). The mean for the overall core of Irrational Beliefs was 280.11 (SD=19.5). The lowest overall score was 231 and the highest overall score was 322. The existence of irrational beliefs among disabled athletes warrants the need for the identification and correction of such beliefs through proper interventions.