NCAA Division III Coaches’ Attitudes and Receptivity Toward Sport Psychology Consulting Services

In this study NCAA Division III (D-III) head coaches (n = 731) completed an online survey assessing their attitudes (i.e., stigma tolerance, confidence in sport psychology consulting, personal openness, and cultural preferences) and receptivity toward sport psychology consultant (SPC) services, previous experiences with and access to SPC services, willingness to encourage and seek SPC services, support for possible SPC roles at NCAA D-III institutions, and if their attitudes predicted their willingness to use SPC services. Results indicated that coaches who had previous experiences with SPC services and perceived them to be effective were more willing to seek SPC services and had more positive attitudes toward SP consulting. Coaches were more willing to support the use of SPC services for performance-related concerns (i.e., enhancing performance, improving focus, and performing as well in competition as in practice) and their confidence in SPC services was the most significant predictor of their willingness to seek SPC services. Responses to an open-ended question revealed that many coaches were open to SPC services, but lacked the resources and funding. These findings on NCAA D-III coaches support and supplement previous research on coaches’ attitudes and willingness to seek SPC services and provide other important insights and recommendations for practitioners and researchers.