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Considerations of control groups: Comparing active-control with no treatment for examining the effects of brief intervention
Beedie, Chris Friesen, Andrew P.
Beedie, Chris
Friesen, Andrew P.
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2021-11-19
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Abstract
Background: A large-scale online study completed by this research team found that brief psychological interventions were associated with high-intensity pleasant emotions and predicted performance. The present study extends this work using data from participants (n = 3376) who completed all self-report data and engaged in a performance task but who did not engage with an intervention or control condition and therefore present as an opportunistic no-treatment group. Methods: 41,720 participants were selected from the process and outcome focus goals intervention groups, which were the successful interventions (n = 30,096), active-control (n = 3039), and no-treatment (n = 8585). Participants completed a competitive task four times: first as practice, second to establish a baseline, third following an opportunity to complete a brief psychological skills intervention, and lastly following an opportunity to repeat the intervention. Repeated measures MANOVA indicated that over four performance rounds, the intensity of positive emotions increased, performance improved, and the amount of effort participants exerted increased; however, these increases were significantly smaller in the no-treatment group. Conclusions: Findings suggest that not engaging in active training conditions had negative effects. We suggest that these findings have implications for the development and deployment of online interventions.
Citation
Lane, A.M., Beedie, C.J., Devonport, T.J., Friesen, A.P. (2021) Considerations of Control Groups: Comparing Active-Control with No Treatment for Examining the Effects of Brief Intervention. Sports, 9, 156. https://doi.org/10.3390/ sports9110156
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34822355 (pubmed)
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Journal article
Language
en
Description
© 2021 The Authors. Published by MDPI. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence.
The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.3390/sports9110156
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ISSN
2075-4663
EISSN
2075-4663