Informational Interview

For this assignment, you conducted an interview with a sport psychology professional during the course. Write 6-8 pages of reflection and analysis.

Preparation Complete the following to prepare for the interview:

1.Select a topic: Select a current sport psychology or performance topic that a consultant or psychologist would address in their applied professional work.

Find resources that support your reason for selecting this particular topic; you will need to build a rationale for why this topic is currently relevant to the field.

2.Schedule an interview:

Identify and contact a practicing professional in your chosen profession with whom you could discuss the state of the field and your selected issue.

You must conduct your interview in real time, preferably in person; if that is not possible, you may conduct your interview virtually using a phone or videoconferencing.

3.Prepare questions:

Formulate a series of specific questions to ask during the interview. Consider relevant sport psychology principles that inform the areas you will discuss.

Create questions around the following topics:

?State of the field: Take some time to learn about how the professional views the field of sport psychology, how it has changed over time, and what advice the professional has for someone just getting started.

?Challenges: Discuss current challenges or struggles for professionals practicing in the field of sport psychology.

?Trends: Explore areas of interest the professional considers important advances and emerging trends in the field of sport psychology.

?Technology: Explore how, if at all, the professional uses technology in their practice. Examples include social media, teleconferencing, texting, e-mail, apps, and other technology for interventions. What are some of the ethical considerations related to use of technology?

?Diversity: Discuss how the professional considers different cultural identities (age, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation) when working with teams, coaches, and athletes.

Learn how the professional develops and maintains multicultural competence.

?Career development: Learn what advice the professional would give to a person just starting out in a career in sport psychology.

?Current topic: Spend some time discussing your selected topic.

Discuss the professional's approach with teams, coaches, or athletes related to the topic you selected.

Address the following:

?Explore how the understanding of and interventions related to the topic has changed over time.

?Explore ethical considerations that might be related to this issue.

Directions Conduct a real-time interview with a practicing professional in your chosen profession.

Note: Ask permission to take notes during the interview. You will use your notes to analyze what you have learned. However, you will not submit these notes.

Prepare a 6â€"8 page reflection and analysis based on your interview.

In your analysis, discuss the state of the field of sport psychology, how your selected professional approaches the current issue identified, and conclude with a discussion of lessons learned.

Write your paper as follows:

•Provide an overview analysis of the state of the field of sport psychology in which you compare and contrast the practicing professional's perspective of the field against current literature.

•Analyze the current issue that formed the basis of your interview, incorporating the point of view of the professional you interviewed.

?Build a detailed rationale to support why you think the topic is timely and important to the field.

?Present the applications and interventions discussed in scholarly literature related to the topic, and evaluate the approach your practicing sport psychology professional uses to address the topic in their own practice.

?Analyze how the understanding and interventions have changed over time.

?Assess current ethical concerns relative to the topic.

?Identify considerations to take into account when working with diverse populations. ?

Support your discussion and rationale with scholarly resources.

•Establish prioritized developmental goals in sports psychology.

?Based on what you learned by analyzing the informational interview, reviewing the literature, and understanding your own interests and needs, create a list of developmental goals to stay current or refine your own approach to sport psychology over the course of your career.

?How will you prioritize your goals? Justify your reasoning for the prioritization.

Additional Requirements

•Length: Submit a minimum of 6â€"8 typed, double-spaced pages.

•References: Include at least three citations.

As this is a current-issues course, the citations should be as recent as possible, preferably within the last two years.

If you use citations older than this, provide a solid rationale for their inclusion.

•Font: Use Arial, 12 point.