Part One: About the Performance Study – Elite Programme
If you have any questions about the Performance Habits: Elite Programme, you can contact the Performance Habits: Elite team at the University of York on:
- Prof. Paul Galdas – email: [email protected] or call 01904 321 647
- Dr. Liz Littlewood – email: [email protected] or call 01904 321 828
The Performance Habits: Elite Programme is based on clinically proven principles of Behavioural Activation, a practical and action-focussed approach to mental fitness. Behavioural Activation has been proven to work at reducing stress and enhancing mood in different groups of people. It works by helping players build positive habits and routines that boost their mood and encourage a healthier mindset through goal-focused action.
Following discussions with football players and player care staff at Leeds United Football Club, we have now tailored Behavioural Activation for professional football players. The Performance Habits: Elite Programme empowers players to take control of their mental wellbeing, fostering resilience and long-term positive change.
The Performance Habits: Elite Programme will involve you making changes to what you do, to strengthen your mental fitness and enhance your mood. It will include keeping a diary and reinstating activities you enjoy which you may have stopped doing, helping you get back on track when you get off course.
You will be assigned a Coach who you will speak with about 6-8 times over a few months to offer guidance and support. You will need to complete several questionnaires before you start the programme and again after you have finished the programme. These questionnaires ask about your wellbeing, to see how the Performance Habits: Elite Programme has affected how you feel.
We are keen to hear about your experiences of the Performance Habits: Elite Programme. If you would like to share your feedback with us, this would involve speaking with a member of the Performance Habits: Elite team. We anticipate the discussion may last approximately 30-40 minutes, and can take place at a time convenient to you, and via telephone or video call (it may also be possible to arrange a face-to-face discussion).
With your permission, we would like to audio record your feedback using an encrypted digital voice recorder. If you do not wish to have your feedback recorded, we would instead take handwritten notes. You can indicate your preference for this on the Performance Habits: Elite Programme consent form. The audio recording would be anonymised and deleted after being professionally transcribed by an approved transcription service.
We are unable to offer any form of payment for sharing your feedback, however, any out of pocket or travel expenses will be reimbursed.
If you do not wish to provide any feedback, that is fine. You can still join the Performance Habits: Elite Programme.
PART TWO: How will we use information about you?
We will need to use information from you to deliver the Performance Habits: Elite Programme within elite football clubs. This information will include some personal information (such as your name and contact details) along with information about your mental wellbeing.
We will keep all information about you safe and secure.
The information will be stored on a secure system which has been approved for use by the University of York. Access to this system will be restricted to members of the Performance Habits: Elite team. People who do not need to know who you are will not be able to see your name or contact details.
After we have tested delivery of the Performance Habits: Elite Programme within elite football clubs, we will keep some of your data so we can check the programme results. Any reports we write about the Performance Habits: Elite Programme will not include your information at an individual level and no-one will be able to work out that you took part in the programme.
- You can stop being part of the Performance Habits: Elite Programme at any time, without giving a reason, but we, at the University of York will keep information about you that we already have.
- We need to manage your records in specific ways for the Performance Habits: Elite Programme to be reliable. This means that we won’t be able to let you see or change the data we hold about you.
You can find out more about how we at the University of York use your information:
- At the University of York’s Privacy notice - Research Participants
- By sending an email to the Performance Habits: Elite team (see "How to get in touch" above)
- By emailing the University of York’s data protection officer on [email protected]
- The Performance Habits: Elite team will look at how the Performance Habits: Elite Programme has been used by football players.
- We may share information with your football club about the numbers of football players engaging with the Performance Habits: Elite Programme so that they can understand how they might develop training and care packages in the future (we will not tell your football club that you have taken part in the Performance Habits: Elite Programme).
- The Performance Habits: Elite team will write a report for Movember (who funded the Performance Habits: Elite Programme) to help understand the reach and impact of the Performance Habits: Elite Programme.
- Information about the reach and impact of the Performance Habits: Elite Programme will be available on the Performance Habits: Elite Programme website.
If you have a concern about any aspect of the Performance Habits: Elite Programme, you should ask to speak to the Performance Habits: Elite team who will do their best to answer your questions contact details on the Performance Habits: Elite Programme website.
You can also contact the Performance Habits: Elite Programme developer Prof. Paul Galdas - [email protected]. He will be happy to discuss your concerns. If you are unhappy with the response, please contact: [email protected]