The creation of intervention plans is the substance of workplace activities designed to enhance individual performance. It is important that you have the opportunity to develop skills in creating intervention plans. To determine whether the intervention was effective and how it can be improved, you must know how to complete the research process in real-world practice. You will also need to enact psychological theories of effective leadership to manage the stakeholders and participants in the intervention.

All of these practices are governed by professional guidelines and ethical behaviors that are common to and expected in the performance psychology field and of which you need to be aware in order to create and implement intervention plans. In this assignment, you will discuss the psychological theories of leadership and their applications to the stakeholders and participants involved in the “PSY-839 Case Study,” and you will propose a theoretically sound and ethical intervention plan for the case study that has been provided.

You will also identify the specific assessment tool(s) and process you will enact following the intervention to determine whether the intervention was

effective and how it can be improved. Finally, you will describe the expected resolution to the case given the intervention you implemented.

General Requirements: Use the following information to ensure successful completion of the assignment:

• Refer to “PSY-839 Case Study.”
• Doctoral learners are required to use APA style for their writing assignments. The APA Style Guide is located in the Student Success Center.
• Refer to Chapters 2-4 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.) for specific guidelines related to doctoral-level writing. These chapters contain essential information on manuscript structure and content, clear and concise writing, and academic grammar and usage.
• This assignment requires that at least two additional scholarly research sources related to this topic, and at least one in-text citation from each source be included.
• You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Refer to the LopesWrite Technical Support articles for assistance.

Directions:

Write an essay (2,250-2,500 words) in which you propose a plan for the case study provided. Your plan should include the following:

1. A description of the psychological theories that must be applied for effective leadership of the stakeholders and other important participants in the case. (Benchmarks C6.4: Apply psychological theories to promote effective leadership.)
2. A description of a theoretically sound and ethical intervention to the case that applies behavior modification to enhance individual performance. (Benchmarks C6.3: Apply principles of behavior modification to enhance individual performance.)
3. A description of the constructs and theories of psychomotor skill and motor control that will be applied in the intervention to improve learning and performance. (Benchmarks C6.2: Analyze constructs and theories of psychomotor skill and motor control to improve learning and performance.)
4. A description of the assessment tool(s) and process that will be used following the intervention to determine whether the intervention was effective and how it can be improved.
5. A description of the expected resolution to the case that demonstrates potential applications of psychological theories and principles underlying performance and is based on your theoretical perspective, the intervention you implemented, and your assessment of the intervention. (Benchmarks C6.5: Propose applications of psychological theories and principles underlying performance.)

Benchmark Information

This benchmark assignment assesses the following programmatic competencies:

Ph D in Performance Psychology

6.2: Analyze constructs and theories of psychomotor skill and motor control to improve learning and performance.

6.3: Apply principles of behavior modification to enhance individual

performance.

6.4: Apply psychological theories to promote effective leadership.

6.5: Propose applications of psychological theories and principles underlying performance.

Here is the case study for this assignment:

Assume you have started consulting with a large, public university that has experienced considerable athletic success across multiple sports. One of the teams you provide services for is the men’s basketball team, which is considered a revenue-generating sport for the athletic department. The coach has stated that he appreciates your assistance, he welcomed you to watch practice, and he allowed you time to present to the team on performance optimization strategies. You have worked with a few of players on an individual basis, but only to follow-up on the strategies you taught in the team sessions.

During one of your practice observations, you notice that the design of practices seems very inconsistent and disorganized. You overheard several players discuss how they never know what to expect in terms of intensity of practice regardless of their upcoming competition or strength and conditioning schedule. You observed one of the assistant coaches attempt to implement more structure and drills that appeared to have a solid theoretical basis for training. The head coach seemed to incorporate some of the suggestions, but when the team loses a game, the practices get even more inefficient and the head coach is much more critical of their performance without giving specific instructions on how to improve. The players’ frustrations are visible as their body language and communication with each other appears to suffer after a loss.

Sam is a sophomore on the team. He was highly recruited and has always described himself as a “gym rat” because he devotes so much time training for basketball. During Sam’s freshman year, he averaged 10-12 minutes per game and the coaching staff reported they were very productive minutes. He was not stellar, but they could count on him to score points and play good defense. Sam is now in contention for a starting spot, but his performance is not nearly as good as what it was his freshman year. In particular, his confidence and focus seem inconsistent and he has been rude to his teammates and coaches when they give him feedback. He seems anxious while rushing the plays and committing turnovers. In addition, he has fouled out of several games.

The team athletic trainer informs you that Sam would like to meet for an individual session, but he does not want the coaching staff to know he is seeking this assistance. In your first meeting with Sam, he says he has never felt this anxious while playing and seems to “black out” when under pressure. Sam reports feeling misunderstood by his teammates and coaches, which leads him to distance himself from them. Sam tells you that his goal is to make it to the next level and that he feels he must be the top scorer each game if he is going to achieve that goal. Sam tells you he has questions about how to run the offense, but is afraid to ask the coaching staff for fear of losing his starting position.