Enhancing self-efficacy through a blended training: A pilot study with basketball players

In the last decade, research has shown that web-based technology can be effectively employed\r\nto support interventions aimed at the empowerment of psychological skills such as selfefficacy.\r\nIn this study, we tested the effectiveness of an innovative blended training program\r\ncombining face to face and web-based activities in enhancing self-efficacy and emotion\r\nregulation among young basketball players. The training program lasted seven weeks and\r\nwas based on the four sources of self-efficacy information identified by Bandura. In a twogroup\r\npre-test and a post-test design, 37 basketball players received either a web-based or a\r\ncontrol text-based training program. The results indicated that the athletes receiving the\r\nweb-based interactive training reported higher levels of self-efficacy compared to the\r\nbaseline assessment, while no significant differences emerged in the control group.\r\nConcerning emotion regulation, both groups reported less emotional suppression at the end\r\nof the training, while no significances emerged for cognitive reappraisal. However, cognitive\r\nreappraisal was associated with self-efficacy as measured before and after the intervention.\r\nThese findings seem to suggest that blended training programs may be a promising\r\napproach to promote self-efficacy in sport.