Investigating the Effectiveness of Mindfulness- Based Intervention on Self-confidence and Levels of Cognitive and Physical Anxiety of Shooters

Mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) has been used by many psychologists as a new therapeutic package in many studies. However, this package is less used in sport filed. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of six weeks of mindfulness-based intervention on self-confidence and levels of cognitive and physical anxiety of shooters. In this semi-experimental research, 17 male professional shooters aging 17- 22 years old from Yazd province who had a history of shooting for at least two years were randomly assigned to two groups, including (1) mindfulness strategies training and (2) control. The training of mindfulness strategies training group comprised 6 sessions (one session per week) and daily homework practice. The instrument used was a CSAI-2 questionnaire. In pre-test, both groups completed the questionnaire 20 minutes before an official match. Then the mindfulness strategies training according to a formerly prepared protocol was held for the intervention group. After intervention, the questionnaire was again completed 20 minutes before the official match with the same conditions by both groups in the post-test. Data were analyzed using independent and paired samples t-test and SPSS-20 software. The results of this study showed that mindfulness strategies training increased self-confidence (P=0.002) and decreased cognitive anxiety (P=0.04). However, it did not significantly changed the physical anxiety (P=0.8). It appears that that mindfulness training can be used as a new promising method to increase self-confidence and reduce cognitive anxiety in shooters.