European Journal of Adapted Physical Activity 5, 7-21 (2012) | DOI: 10.5507/euj.2012.006

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF THE PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE PORTUGUESE VERSION OF THE TEST OF PERFORMANCE STRATEGIES (TOPSp) IN ATHLETES WITH DISABILITIES

Tânia Lima Bastos, Rui Corredeira, Michel Probst, António Manuel Fonseca
1 CIFI2D, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Portugal
2 CIAFEL, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Portugal
3 Faculty of Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Sciences, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium

The importance of psychological preparation in the success of athletes is well accepted. However, it still remains a lack of valid and reliable instruments to assess the athletes' psychological skills. The goal of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of a preliminary Portuguese version of the Test of Performance Strategies (TOPSp) in athletes with disabilities. Seventy athletes (age M=33.3 yrs; SD=12.2 yrs) completed the TOPSp. The questionnaire was translated following the methodological suggestion of Vallerand (1989). The internal consistency of the subscales of the TOPSp was acceptable (α=.60-.81), with the exception of automaticity (α=.12) and activation (α=.44) in practice setting. The paired sample t-test between test and retest (n=12) showed no significant differences except to self-talk (competition) (t[11]= -2.45, p≤0.05). Strong positive correlations between competition subscales (r=.70-.93) and most of the practice subscales (r=.74-.91) were found except to automaticity (r=.12) and activation (r=.52). Regardless of the problems found for the automaticity and activation practice subscales, the results showed acceptable internal consistency and temporal stability of the TOPSp, recommending its use to assess the psychological skills of Portuguese athletes with disabilities.

Keywords: psychological skills; TOPS; cross-cultural adaptation

Published: July 31, 2012  Show citation

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Lima Bastos, T., Corredeira, R., Probst, M., & Fonseca, A.M. (2012). PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF THE PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE PORTUGUESE VERSION OF THE TEST OF PERFORMANCE STRATEGIES (TOPSp) IN ATHLETES WITH DISABILITIES. European Journal of Adapted Physical Activity, 5(2), 7-21. doi: 10.5507/euj.2012.006
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