Investigating the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation and clinical hypnosis for addressing burnout and optimising wellbeing in competitive athletes: A replicated single-case experimental design

INTERVENTION: The two brief interventions (described below) being compared comprise five training sessions of 20 minutes in length, delivered across five consecutive days. Athletes are randomised to condition and will only receive one of the two trainings. The training sessions will be delivered as audio recordings via Qualtrics so that athletes can listen to the recordings (via headphones) in a location of their choice. Participants will also have access to the recordings during the post‐training maintenance period. The length of the baseline period and maintenance period will be randomly assigned as either 5‐days, 10‐days, or 15‐days in length such that the total duration of participation for all participants totals 25 days. The treatment period immediately follows the last day of baseline monitoring, and the maintenance period immediately follows the last day of treatment. Adherence will be tracked by the researchers via a function on Qualtrics. Both interventions will be recorded by A/Prof Melissa Day, a endorsed Clinical and Health Psychologist, with the same recording listened to by participants in each condition on each day of treatment and following treatment. Condition 1, Mindfulness Meditation (MM): The MM recording will be adapted from Day (2017). It will first instruct the listener to anchor attention on the breath while being mindfully aware of any physical sensations that arise throughout the body. The listener is then encouraged to explore sensations with non‐judgmental attentiveness, without attempts to change the sensation in any way. This will implicitly provide training in mindful acceptance. Finally, the listener is instructed to simply label any thinking that arises as “thinking”, before returning to the object of the meditation. Condition 2, Clinic CONDITION: Burnout;Stress; ; Burnout ; Stress Mental Health ‐ Other mental health disorders PRIMARY OUTCOME: Burnout; [ Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ): Assessed daily during the randomised baseline period (5‐15 days), during treatment (5 days), and in the randomised maintenance phase (5‐15 days)] SECONDARY OUTCOME: Anxiety[ Competitive State Anxiety Scale (CSAI‐2R) – Cognitive Anxiety Subscale: A theorised mechanism, assessed daily during the randomised baseline period (5‐15 days), during treatment (5 days), and in the randomised maintenance phase (5‐15 days)] Decentering[ Metacognitive Processes of Decentring Scale ‐ State Scale: A theorised mechanism, assessed daily during the randomised baseline period (5‐15 days), during treatment (5 days), and in the randomised maintenance phase (5‐15 days)] Fatigue[ 100‐point Numerical Rating Scale of Fatigue: Assessed daily during the randomised baseline period (5‐15 days), during treatment (5 days), and in the randomised maintenance phase (5‐15 days)] Fear[ Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Expanded form (PANAS‐X) ‐ 6‐item Fear Subscale: Assessed daily during the randomised baseline period (5‐15 days), during treatment (5 days), and in the randomised maintenance phase (5‐15 days)] Heart Rate Variability (HRV) chest strap monitor[ Heart rate variability will be assessed during experimental pain stimulation using a thermal pain paradigm at four sampling points 1) at the commencement of the baseline data collection period; 2) at the start of the intervention period; 3) at the end of the intervention period; and 4) at the end of the maintenance period.] Peak Pain Intensity[ Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) ‐ Peak Pain Intensity: Peak pain intensity reported during experimental pain stimulation using a thermal pain paradigm at four sampling points 1) at the commencement of the baseline data collection period; 2) at the start of the intervention period; 3) at the end of the intervention period; and 4) at the end of the maintenance period.] Peak Pain Unpleasantness[ Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) ‐ Peak Pain Unpleasantness: Peak pain unpleasantness reported during experimental pain stimulation using a thermal pain paradigm at four sampling points 1) at the commencement of the baseline data collection period; 2) at the start of the intervention period; 3) at the end of the intervention period; and 4) at the end of the maintenance period.] Self‐Confidence [ Competitive State Anxiety Scale (CSAI‐2R) – Self‐Confidence Subscale: A theorised mechanism, assessed daily during the randomised baseline period (5‐15 days), during treatment (5 days), and in the randomised maintenance phase (5‐15 days)] Serenity ; [ Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Expanded form (PANAS‐X) ‐ Serenity Subscale: Assessed daily during the randomised baseline period (5‐15 days), during treatment (5 days), and in the randomised maintenance phase (5‐15 days)] Sports Competition Rumination[ Sports Competition Rumination Scale (SCRS): A theorised mechanism, assessed daily during the randomised baseline period (5‐15 days), during treatment (5 days), and in the randomised maintenance phase (5‐15 days)] Stress ; ; [ Depression Anxiety Stress Scales – 9 item Short Form – Stress Subscale (DASS‐S‐3): Assessed daily during the randomised baseline period (5‐15 days), during treatment (5 days), and in the randomised maintenance phase (5‐15 days)] INCLUSION CRITERIA: a) be a competitive athlete (i.e., compete at a level beyond recreational or casual participation. This includes athletes who participate in regional, national, or international competitions, and those who are members of competitive teams or clubs), b) have participated in a competition in the past si Xmonths and are currently training for a future or ongoing competition), c) currently experiencing burnout, as indicated by a score of 79 or higher on the 18‐item Shirom‐Melamed Burnout Measure d) be 18 or over, e) read, speak, and understand the English language, f) have access to the internet on a computer or smartphone, g) have access to a set of earphones, h) be willing to be randomly assigned to both conditions and listen to five 20‐minute treatment sessions, i) be willing to participate in a daily survey for 25 consecutive days.