Selective attention and sustained attention are important cognitive processes that influence athlete's performance in highly dynamic sports such as basketball. These two attention processes are important factors that influence athletes' achievements and can be trained. Insufficient attention function and development can hinder decision-making, working memory, and reaction speed during the game, thereby reducing the player's potential and effectiveness. In recent years, virtual reality technologies have been increasingly integrated into psychological interventions, including attention training. However, there are no interventions available that are designed for young basketball players and adolescents.
The aim of this study is to develop and evaluate an augmented reality intervention that develops selective attention and attention persistence in adolescent basketball players and to ascertain the opinions of potential users and experts on the developed intervention.
A theoretical framework was developed and, based on this, a prototype of the intervention was developed and integrated into augmented reality glasses. The content and technical suitability of the intervention were evaluated by three expert psychologists, three coaches, and 12 potential users (basketball players) using a structured questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale.
The assessments of the expert psychologists indicate a high level of both content suitability (M=4; SD=0.5) and technical suitability (M=4.3; SD=0.47). The coaches' assessment indicates an average level of intervention content suitability (M=3.6; SD=0.48) and technical relevance (M=3.6; SD=0.53), while user assessments were significantly higher for both content (M=4.6; SD=0.17) and technical relevance (M=4.2; SD=0.23).
The results of this study indicate that the content of the intervention developed is appropriate and that augmented reality is important for developing attention functions in young basketball players. In the future, it would be necessary to conduct a study with a larger sample size and to conduct a study to determine the sustainability of the intervention over time.