Coaches’ Attitudes Towards Sport Psychology Services: A Study of NCAA Division I Head Golf Coaches

In this study a sample of NCAA Division I (D-I) head golf coaches (n = 84) completed a web-based survey assessing their attitudes toward sport psychology (SP) services (i.e., confidence in SP consulting, personal openness, stigma tolerance, and cultural preference), willingness to utilize SP services, previous use and perceived satisfaction with SP services, and if coaches’ attitudes predicted their willingness to utilize SP services. This study also explored participating coaches’ self-reported leadership behaviors (i.e., democratic behavior, autocratic behavior, training and instruction, social support, positive feedback, and situational consideration). Results indicated that coaches who more frequently used and perceived more satisfaction with SP consulting services were more confidence in SP consulting, had less preference for working with a SP consultant of similar cultural background to themselves, and were more willing to utilize SP services. Results also revealed confidence in SP consulting as the largest predictor of their willingness to utilize SP services. Finally, results indicated a weak corollary relationship between coaches’ use of democratic behavior and confidence in SP consulting, and moderate relationships between social support and situational consideration behaviors and personal openness. The findings of this study support previous research on coaches’ attitudes toward and willingness to utilize SP services. A discussion of major findings, implications for practitioners, and suggestions for the direction of future research is provided.