Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)
The first objective of the research was to determine how student athletes experience career
transitions into university, within university, and out of university. This was important in that it
enabled the researcher to understand student athletes’ transition needs and challenges
pertaining to experiences that are psychological, psychosocial, athletic, and academic.
Based on the outcome of the first research objective, the second objective of the research
was to develop a career transition intervention programme for student athletes. This research
project was guided by the intervention research design and programme development
methodology of Thomas and Rothman (1994) to achieve both objectives of the research.
Intervention research is a research methodology that has a series of interconnected phases
that guide researchers to develop innovative interventions linked to improving human service.
The research was conducted within Gauteng universities. The research project used a mixedmethods
design within the intervention research and design. This included three individual
interviews, three focus groups, and the completion of a psychometric instrument, namely the
Revised Student Athlete Career Situation Inventory (SACSI-R) for males and females by 140
student athletes. The research participants reflected both genders and the different races of
ethnic groups representing the student athlete population. The age of participants ranged
between 18 and 31 years of age. The researcher used snowball sampling to obtain the
qualitative data and utilised the purposive sampling method for extracting the quantitative
data. The ethical requirements for conducting research were adhered to.
The research found that student athletes experience various transition challenges within their
psychological, psychosocial, and academic/vocational areas. There is therefore a need for the
development of a career transition intervention programme that will provide them with the
necessary skills to cope with the demands of making successful career transitions. The
proposed intervention was a preventative psycho-educational group career transition
intervention. It is an intervention that provides information and skills training, and enhances
support and resources in the psychological, psychosocial, and academic/vocational areas of
development for student athletes.
This study contributes to existing knowledge in the field of career transition and intervention
development for student athletes within the South African context. A limitation of this study is
that it was not implemented to test for efficacy; however, recommendations for further
development, piloting, and further development are suggested.