The effects of mindfulness training on beginners' skill acquisition in dart throwing: A randomized controlled trial

Chun-Qing Zhang, Gangyan Si*, Yanping Duan, Yaojun Lyu, David A. Keatley, Derwin K. C. Chan

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

    71 Citations (Scopus)
    139 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Objectives: The present study was into whether or not mindfulness training, based on the mindfulness-acceptance-commitment approach (MAC), can improve beginners' skill acquisition of dart throwing. 

    Design: Randomised controlled trial. 

    Methods: A total of 43 first-year college students who had not played darts professionally prior to the study were randomly assigned to either an attention control group (n = 21) or a mindfulness training group (n = 22) during an eight-week dart training program. Dart throwing and psychological variables were assessed at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and two-week follow-up. 

    Results: Two-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed that the mindfulness group, but not the attention control group had significant improvements in mindfulness, experiential acceptance, and flow at post-intervention and follow-up. Although both groups improved dart throwing performance after the intervention, the improvement of the mindfulness group was statistically higher in comparison to that of the attention control group. 

    Conclusions: It was concluded that the MAC approach could improve the performance and adaptive sport experience of beginners in dart throwing.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)279-285
    Number of pages7
    JournalPsychology of Sport and Exercise
    Volume22
    Early online date12 Sept 2015
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jan 2016

    Scopus Subject Areas

    • Applied Psychology

    User-Defined Keywords

    • Experiential acceptance
    • Flow
    • Mindfulness intervention
    • Motor skill learning
    • Sport performance

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