Post-Event Reflection: A Tool to Facilitate Self-Awareness, Self-Monitoring, and Self-Regulation in Athletes

The underlying basis of many psychological interventions is self-awareness. Systematic self-reflection enhances self-awareness, which improves self-monitoring, self-correction, and ultimately self-regulation (Kirschenbaum, 1997 Kirschenbaum, D. (1997). Mind matters: 7 steps to smarter sport performance. Carmel, IN: Cooper Publishing. [Google Scholar]). Theoretically, the capability to self-reflect following performance has motivational, cognitive, and behavioral effects (Ellis, Carette, Anseel, & Lievens, 2014 Ellis, S., Carette, B., Anseel, F., & Lievens, F. (2014). Systematic reflection: Implications for learning from failures and successes. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(1), 67–72. doi:10.1177/0963721413504106[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), increases intrinsic motivation, and results in more internal and controllable attributions (Allen, Jones, & Sheffield, 2010 Allen, M. S., Jones, M. V., & Sheffield, D. (2010). The influence of positive reflection on attributions, emotions, and self-efficacy. The Sport Psychologist, 24(2), 211–226. doi:10.1123/tsp.24.2.211[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This paper introduces a tool—the Post-Event Reflection (PER)—that practitioners can use to assist athletes in processing their performances in a productive, improvement-focused manner. The PER’s conceptual and empirical rationale, practical implementation and implications, benefits, and challenges are presented.