AUTHOR=Chen Jie , Zhou Duoqi , Gong Dan , Wu Shunli , Chen Weikai 

TITLE=A study on the impact of systematic desensitization training on competitive anxiety among Latin dance athletes

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 15 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1371501

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1371501

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Objective: In the domain of competitive even, the Latin dance athletes are always suffered competitive anxiety, which is a prevalent and prevailing psychological facet, in the pre, intra, and post-competitive engagements. Usually, the implementation of systematic desensitization training as an efficacious approach to reduce competitive anxiety levels in routinely sports to fortify athletes' psychological resilience (like swimming, volleyball, and basketball). This work focus on the effect of systematic desensitization training on competition anxiety in the training of Latin dancers to establish good mental ability and promote the competitive ability of athletes.The "Sports Competition Anxiety Test Questionnaire" was used to evaluate and classify the competitive anxiety levels from 150 Latin dance athletes. Then, top 48 participants were selected (24 in the intervention cohort and 24 in the non-intervention cohort) as the study object after stratifying anxiety score level from the highest to the lowest. The intervention group treats with 8-week psychological intervention by employing systematic desensitization training techniques (encompassing imagery desensitization and in vivo desensitization). The anxiety levels of the subjects were quantified by employing the "Sport Competition Trait Anxiety Inventory" (CCTAI-C) and the "Competitive State Anxiety Inventory" (CSAI-2) to scrutinize the efficacy of systematic desensitization training in regulating competitive anxiety levels among Latin dance athletes.Results: After applying systematic desensitization training, the intervention group displayed a notable reduction in sport cognitive trait anxiety. Specifically, there was a decrease of 29.37% in social evaluation anxiety, 20.31% in competition preparation anxiety, 16.98% in performance anxiety, 25.16% in failure anxiety, 34.47% in opponent's ability anxiety, and 25.16% in injury anxiety. Moreover, for  competitive state anxiety, the cognitive state anxiety and somatic state anxiety is decreased by 39.19% and 21.43%. The state self-confidence is increased by 14.42%.The result indicated that the systematic desensitization training not only mitigates anxiety but also positively intervenes in sports-related anxiety. Moreover, the systematic desensitization training can significantly diminish competitive anxiety among Latin dance athletes to bolster confidence during competitions. Integrating desensitization training into the regular regimen of Latin dance practice has the potential to fortify dancers' psychological resilience against anxiety.