The 14th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education Bucharest, April 19-20, 2018 10.12753/2066-026X-18-187 Employing Social Media in Working with Athletes: A Case Study Discussing Ethical Implications for Applied Sport Psychology Consultants Elena-Madalina MARGARIT BASES Accredited Sport & Exercise Scientist, Bucharest, Romania elenamadalina.margarit@gmail.com Florentina TONITA, Nicolae ANGELESCU Romanian-American University, Faculty of Physical Education, Sport and Kinetotherapy, Expozitiei Bvd, Romania floritonita@yahoo.com; nick.angelescu@gmail.com Abstract: This paper aims to discuss the use of social media platforms, namely Facebook and WhatsApp, as tools in supporting sport psychology interventions. The sharing of applied practice offers an opportunity to reflect both on the effectiveness of such tools and the consequent ethical implications. In terms of impact, social media could prove itself useful in fostering better communication at the cost of blurred boundaries and privacy issues. The scenarios presented focus on supporting communication within coach-athlete dyads and team environments as part of larger pre-season and competitive season interventions. The first author discusses her experience working with a university netball club within the British Universities & Colleges Sport League. Facebook was used to aid communication especially in the area of feedback, reflection and access to information from sport psychology sessions. The other scenario focuses on the work conducted with the Romanian National Handball junior female team by the second author. WhatsApp was used to enhance team cohesion and to facilitate intra-group communication. Furthermore, an example from tennis illustrates a different perspective on WhatsApp and its impact on the coach-athlete dyad. By taking into consideration the athletes’, coaches’ and consultant’s perspective we hope to provide an alternative view on client-consultant relationships in this age and day, specifically in the sports industry. In offering this account of applied practice, we aim to emphasize the importance of ethics in informing decision-making when applied sport psychology consultants choose their tools. Finally, the paper highlights the advantages and disadvantages of using social media platforms when supporting athletes. Keywords: social media; applied sport psychology; netball; handball; tennis; ethical considerations. I. LITERATURE REVIEW Online technologies and mobile devices have shaped the way we interact, affecting not only our private lives, but our profession as well. The growing range of communication media, software and sport specific ‘apps’ available to sport science practitioners has presented us with opportunities of reaching larger audiences, deliver sport science support in a variety of places and formats, as well as allowing us to monitor progress and follow up with clients more easily. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, for example, have altered the dynamics of sport communication [1] and exercise intervention delivery [2]. In the realm of communication media, Skype has been mentioned as a viable tool to overcome geographical boundaries in both group and one-to-one sessions delivery [3; 4]. A growing body of research focuses on athletes’ self-presentation on the Internet and its possible impact on their relationship with important stakeholders from the sports industry, exploring communication patterns on Twitter in high school, collegiate and professional athletes [1; 5; 6]. 308 Nonetheless, Forrest and Bruner (2017) successfully employed Facebook to facilitate an indirect teambuilding intervention to promote exercise adherence among first-year university students. Their findings supported the benefits of an online teambuilding intervention impacting group cohesion, increased group task satisfaction and improved physical fitness. Among the advantages of the online intervention, both participants and group leaders who delivered the exercise protocol in person and teambuilding sessions via Facebook mentioned improved communication, accessibility to the program, and a sense of cohesion. Similarly, in an anecdotal account, Heaney (2013) mentioned the benefits of online support as it allowed athletes located in different parts of the world to have access to group sessions, supported contact between consultant and service users that otherwise would not have been possible, and the overall costs were low. However, online technology has its downsides which pose both ethical and practical challenges for sport psychology consultants. Blurred boundaries between personal and professional relationships, confidentiality, privacy, young demographic groups, informed consent, service termination are just to name a few [4; 7]. More and more researchers are drawing attention to the gap in understanding about ethical issues associated with the use of social media, apps and wearable devices [7; 8]. While social media empowers people to network more easily, develop businesses and champion humanitarian causes, it also empowers trollers, stalkers and predators to access victims online [7]. It has been argued that social media and online technologies commodifies relationships, services and communication making it easier for individuals to lose their humanity and become items of consumption, thus altering the relationship between individuals and their environment. What is more, the boundaries between physical and virtual reality are blurred by constant movement between physical space and online space, online interactions and offline interactions, creating a sense of connection and disconnection concurrently [7]. Naturally, debates regarding social media policies and professional guidelines for online communications have emerged, the fields of health [10] and social work [7; 8] being more proactive in doing so. Ethical dilemmas and procedures are largely discussed considering four internationally recognized ethical principles: informed consent, anonymity, protection from risk and harm and legality [8]. Nevertheless, these debates are always revolving around research and not necessarily applied work. As far as sport psychology is concerned, Cotterill & Symes (2014) have sparked the discussion on the integration of social media and new technologies into practice, highlighting the lack of specific practitioner guidelines when it comes to sport psychology. This is a conversation we would like to continue by sharing some examples of applied practice. We aim to present three case studies from team (netball and handball) and individual sports (tennis) and discuss the practical implications of using social media when working with clients. II. NETBALL SCENARIO This case study depicts part of the work and subsequent reflections on such work that was conducted during pre-season with a university netball club within the British Universities & Colleges Sport League (BUCS). Sport psychology support was provided by the first author during her traineeship as a Sport and Exercise Scientist (Sport Psychology Support). Prior to the season discussed, the first and second teams of the club had experienced a very successful previous season culminating with promotions for both teams. What is more, the club had been experiencing continuous organizational restructuring for the past three years, each year adding a new layer of staff to the support team. I had had the chance to be involved with this squad for two seasons including the time frame reflected on here, so was aware of the organizational changes. On a smaller scale, the team dynamics fostered an ego-centered climate, which also demanded a lot of management from the part of the coach, communication being an obvious weakness among the athletes. As a result, my work for the first season with the team focused on improving communication and self-awareness both among the athletes and between coach and athletes mainly via training and match debriefs and my own behavioral example of interacting with them. Despite the incongruencies regarding vision, roles and communication at organizational level, I managed to develop a highly functional relationship with the head coach based on trust and collaboration, which fueled our work together. The purpose of this case 309 study is to present how social media (Facebook) was used to aid my work with the team and reflect on the main issues dealt over the pre-season period. The pre-season represented the first stage of developing the most effective team within the available means and constituted of creating the concepts that defined the said team. These concepts were related to the trademarks and benchmarks of the future team, thus creating shared knowledge between players, impacting on team coordination and eventually on performance. Along with face to face teambuilding sessions, training observation, performance profiling and reflection sessions with the coach, a Facebook closed group for first team athletes and staff was employed to aid open communication and the generation of shared knowledge. The sport psychology consultant played an active role during this phase by supporting both the coach and athletes in defining the team benchmarks (i.e. needs analysis, communication exercises) and, secondly, facilitating the communication between the two parties (i.e. session summary and feedback to coach, performance feedback to athletes either via direct match debrief or Facebook posts). During the introductory pre-season meeting with the athletes it was agreed that Facebook will be used for the following purposes: (a) communicate key information (times, venues, preparation, equipment needed etc.) regarding training, strength and conditioning and sport psychology sessions, (b) team match/training feedback from myself and the coach, (c) players’ match reports, (d) clarifying and reflective questions from the sport psychology consultant to aid shared knowledge, both regarding team values and position switching, (e) to announce the selected team for BUCS matches, (f) templates of some of the materials used in sport psychology sessions. Both myself and the head coach used professional Facebook profiles to limit athletes’ access to personal information. The Facebook group was used for the entire season, but the sport psychology consultant was active only during the pre-season and first two matches of the season. The head coach, assistant coach, team manager, strength and conditioning coordinator and coaches were also members of the group. On the one hand, the Facebook group fostered faster replies from athletes compared to email, the coach and assistant coach used posted comments to inform their tactical training planning and decision-making, athletes had access to reflection templates/team profile to use in their own time. Furthermore, I was better updated regarding official match schedule and friendly matches. Occasionally, the face to face interactions between the coach and myself were maximized because we already had access to what the other had discussed with the athletes. Finally, the online group offered the opportunity for players to message me privately and access individual support. On the other hand, there were times when important face to face communication could be avoided (e.g. when the coach communicated the factors impacting on selection and the number of compulsory strength and conditioning sessions to be attended depending on burnout symptoms). Besides, not all athletes followed the group because of the large amount of news feeds. In terms of content, posts needed to be team specific and quite neutral in tone, only factual information could be shared due to confidentiality and how the other members of the staff would use that information impacting selection and athlete playing time. What is more, through the Facebook group I had access to athletes’ personal information that made it harder for me to keep a non-judgmental attitude at all times. Finally, reviews had been mixed from all sides: athletes, coach, myself. Even though social media could be useful in supporting communication within a team environment, it also emphasizes that one size does not fit all. But, more than just effectiveness, the privacy issues associated with using such a platform are more concerning. Recently, during a peer review meeting a real-life scenario of mishandling information from reflective practice by third parties was discussed. In that particular situation, management staff have manipulated players’ reflections (without the consent of the athletes or the sport psychology support team), which were accessible online, in order to rid the organization of a certain athlete. Fortunately, the sport psychology team and athletes were informed timely and managed to save the situation without destroying the confidence bridges in the organization. 310 III. HANDBALL SCENARIO In January 2016 I (the second author) was asked to support the Women’s U20 Romanian Handball team in their preparation for the World Championship. The team had experienced great success in the past, winning the 2014 Women’s U18 World Championship. Unfortunately, the same level of performance could not be replicated the following year, the team finishing the 2015 European Championship on the 10th place. Along with the overall drop in performance, the frequent change of coaches only accentuated the uncertainty, lack of motivation and self-belief among the players. Given the context, the new staff which I was part of was not wholeheartedly received by the team. Initially, both the players and the other members of the staff had been skeptical about sport psychology and the benefits I could bring to the table. Consequently, I focused on building rapport, improving the overall sense of cohesion and trust within the team. Group sessions were delivered on a weekly basis at this stage. Just before the trip to Russia to the World Championship I had planned and delivered a teambuilding session focused on the team’s journey leading up to that moment. While each player analyzed their role in the team’s success and failure, the athletes realized that their resilience is stronger than the issues they had faced and their confidence started to build up. During this time, I managed to obtain buy in from the team captain and establish a highly functional working relationship with her. Knowing that I would not accompany the players to the World Championship, I decided in conjunction with the captain that we would keep in touch via WhatsApp. This particular communication platform was chosen because it was already used by the Romanian Handball Federation to communicate official training times and venues and all the players and staff were familiar with it. Apart from the ‘official’ WhatsApp group which included all members of the staff and players, the athletes had a group of their own. As a token of their trust they asked me to join their private group. However, due to privacy issues and the possibility of blurring the lines between professional and personal relationships I declined the invitation and explained my motives. During the World Championship I had followed closely both the preliminary round and the main round but did not contact the players unless they requested it. Unfortunately, the team lost the match that qualified them for the final. Not surprisingly, losing the opportunity to fight for the 1st place negatively affected the team’s morale. I decided that it was the right moment to intervene. Therefore, I contacted the captain and sent pictures of the players’ journey to becoming a team which were created during the face to face teambuilding sessions along with a motivational message for what was going to be their last match as a U20 team. Eventually, the team finished the competition with a bronze medal. Following these events, I received a lot of positive feedback from the athletes and head coach. What is more, my ‘WhatsApp intervention’ was deemed a crucial moment for the team’s evolution. My actions could have multiple implications. Firstly, I managed to intervene timely to impact the team’s performance by overcoming the geographical boundaries. At the same time, if athletes have access to support so easily how will it affect the development of their problem-solving skills and autonomy on the long term? Boundaries are sometimes difficult to manage offline, but what impact could 24/7 potential access to the sport psychology consultant have? Reflecting on my online behavior, I was surprised when the athletes confessed that my refusal to join their private discussion group led them to exclude the strength and conditioning coach from that group on the realization that his comments were crossing the professional boundaries. In this case I was unknowingly a whistle blower and the inappropriate behavior of the staff member was dealt with timely and without further negative consequences. However, this incident highlighted the lack of policies regarding online technology and professional behavior at organizational level. IV. TENNIS SCENARIO The final scenario illustrates the use of social media to support a professional tennis player (450 WTA-Women’s Tennis Association) who is also a third-year university student. During a working trip to the National Tennis Training Center I (the third author) was approached by a fellow strength and conditioning coach for a potential collaboration with one of his athletes. The support he was looking for was mental training. Considering my sports science and coaching background and my emerging interest in sport psychology I accepted the challenge. I have been working with this athlete 311 for three years and managed to establish a very good working relationship with her. Initially, most of my work focused on improving the communication between coach-athlete-strength and conditioning coach. The overall training process was jeopardized by the coach’s ego-centered approach and lack of consideration for the athlete’s life as a student. Eventually, the athlete decided to bring new staff into her team and collaborate with a different strength and conditioning coach, as well as head coach. Along with the new staff came more self-awareness regarding the training process and a more nuanced view on performance which were actively developed through debrief sessions between mental training coach, athlete and head coach. Soon enough the athlete requested mental training support during competition. I do not do mental training as a full-time job, so travelling with her on tour was not a possibility. We decided that we would continue our sessions via WhatsApp. Using this platform was the athlete’s choice as she was already using it to schedule her training sessions. Even tough in face to face sessions the coach sometimes participates, during the online debrief sessions I only communicate with the athlete and later feedback to the coach if the athlete approves. We communicate via texts and the discussions are always focused on performance. Besides, I correlate the debrief protocol with the match statistics that I can access online. Furthermore, by using WhatsApp I can check if the athlete has seen the message as opposed to email and it also feels a little more personable. During competitive season most of our interactions are online. Interestingly, I noticed that many of the online debriefs are more performance centered than the face to face ones and the athlete is better able to make an action plan and implement it from match to match. This could happen because the emotional issues are better discussed face to face as one person has better access to the other person’s reaction in real time, which online messaging impairs [7]. Naturally, when the emotional input is taken away it is easier to focus solely on performance. Alternatively, it could be related to the absence of the coach from the online space. Besides, by having access to athletes’ ‘online activity’ status I have a more realistic view on recovery and sleeping times. This is helpful in asking more targeted questions. However, is this a breach of privacy if we have not formally discussed that recovery and sleeping patterns would be monitored for performance enhancement? Again, online technology offers the opportunity for low cost mental training support but poses questions of relationship management both online and offline. V. CONCLUSIONS Social media platforms proved to be effective means of aiding sport psychology interventions complementing the traditional face to face support. All three practitioners acknowledged that their online communication was based on already functional working relationships with their clients developed through in person interactions. Social media was used to enhance access to information and group cohesion (netball scenario), overcome geographical boundaries and high service costs (handball and tennis scenarios). In spite of that, questions of relationship management, professional boundaries and content management emerged. To our knowledge, only The Association for Applied Sport Psychology’s (AASP) has formally addressed the integration of technology in professional services in sport, health and exercise psychology. Nonetheless, the complexity of real-life ethical decision-making that practitioners face requires more nuanced professional guidelines. Using a case-study approach that favors in-depth exploration of real-life situations [12] and critical reflection [13] we discussed some of the ethical complexities posed by employing social media when delivering sport psychology services. Recurrent themes were professional boundaries, relationship and content management. In line with research from the areas of social work, sport and education [7; 8; 11] the relationship between practitioner and client is impacted by online communication. The switch from physical space to virtual space and lack of control over content shared once the latter is online poses difficulties for both the consultant and service user in maintaining clear boundaries [7]. What is more, this may lead to confusion regarding professional responsibility. If the formal professional relationship has ended, does “Facebook friend” and former sport psychology consultant have any further responsibility for potentially vulnerable athletes? Are the athletes and coaches entitled to prolonged support? How does one deal with confidentiality once content is posted and consultants have no control over how that information will be used and by whom? 312 On reflection, better consideration should be given to: (1) platform choice, (2) information/content shared, (3) who has access to what information, (4) for what purposes said information is used. From an applied perspective some practical alternatives could be: limited access to group only to people that are directly involved, deciding in conjunction with athletes, coach and other staff members what platform will be used, for what purposes, what type of information can be shared and how it will be used, checking the privacy policy of social media apps and platforms to inform decision on posted content and use choice as well as employing face to face meetings, especially as far as the staff is concerned. Echoing researchers from other disciplines such as health and social work [7; 8; 9; 11], the human relationship between consultant and service user is being reshaped by online communication and careful consideration should be given to the boundary between virtual and physical space. This sharing of applied practice mentions but a few of the realities faced by sport psychology consultants when using technology in their work. 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