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Dr Caroline Heaney

Profile summary

  • Central Academic Staff
  • Senior Lecturer
  • Faculty of Wellbeing, Education & Language Studies
  • School of Education, Childhood, Youth & Sport
  • Childhood, Youth & Sport
  • caroline.heaney

Web links

Professional biography

Dr Caroline Heaney is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Fitness at the Open University. She has worked as a full-time academic at the university since September 2006. Prior to that she worked as a lecturer in sport and exercise science/psychology in various face-to-face universities.

Caroline’s specialist area is sport psychology. She is a British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) accredited and Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered Sport Psychologist and has provided sport psychology support to a wide range of performers. 

 

Research interests

Caroline’s expertise lies in the areas of the psychological aspects of sports injury and mental health in sport. Psychological factors play an important role in the rehabilitation from sports injury and sports injury rehabilitation professionals (SIRPs), such as physiotherapists, have a key role in providing psychological support to the injured athlete. Caroline’s research explores the valuable role of the SIRP in addressing the psychological aspects of sports injury and the importance of sport psychology education for these professionals.

Her work has constructed and contributed to an evidence base demonstrating the value of sport psychology education for SIRPs and has the power to influence the education and training opportunities open to SIRPs. Research examining the impact of sport psychology education on the practice of sports injury rehabilitation professionals is an under-researched area with much of the existing work focused on north American student athletic trainer populations. Caroline has redressed this by focussing her research on UK SIRPs who are already qualified and practicing in the field – a group who have expressed a desire to increase their knowledge and practice in relation to sport psychology. As an experienced educator in distance learning she has also developed a new field of enquiry within the topic area investigating the impact of distance learning as a delivery modality, which has huge potential for SIRPs who often travel with sports teams and may find committing to face to face training difficult.

Caroline’s work is designed to promote and raise awareness of the importance of sport psychology education for SIRPs and influence those involved in the education and training of SIRPs at undergraduate, postgraduate and post-qualification level in order to ensure that injured athletes receive a holistic approach to recovery that addressees both the physiological and psychological aspects of injury.  

A full list of Caroline's publications can be found by clicking here. Some of her academic publications can be viewed by clicking on the 'publications' tab above and on her ResearchGate profile.

ORCID ID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7763-2223

 

Teaching interests

Caroline has been involved in the writing and development of all modules in the sport and fitness programme. She has been module chair on various modules including:

  • E312 Athletic Development: A Psychological Perspective
  • E313 Exploring Psychological Aspects of Athletic Development
  • E233 Sport and Exercise Psychology: A Case Study Approach
  • E112 Introduction to Sport, Fitness & Management 

She has also written the free Badged Open Courses (BOCs) Exploring the psychological aspects of sport injury (sole author) and The athlete’s journey: transitions through sport - OpenLearn - Open University  (co-written with Candice Lingam-Willgoss).

Caroline has held various additional roles within the university including School Athena Swan lead (2021-present), Programme Leader for Sport and Fitness (2016-19 and 2021-22) and Head of Qualification for Sport and Fitness (2013-2019).

 

To find out more about the Sport and Fitness qualifications available at The Open University please click here.

 

Impact and engagement

Caroline disseminates her knowledge of sport and exercise science and sport psychology in ways that are designed to engage diverse communities and foster knowledge exchange. Examples of media used to disseminate such knowledge include:

Publications

A Case Study Investigation Into a Group Online Sport Psychology Support Intervention for Injured Athletes (2023-01)
Heaney, Caroline and Kentzer, Nichola
Case Studies in Sport and Exercise Psychology, 7(1) (pp. 24-32)

The impact of Online Forum Use on Student Retention in a Level 1 Distance Learning Module (2022-02)
Pinchbeck, Jessica and Heaney, Caroline
Athens Journal of Education, 9(1) (pp. 103-118)

Students’ experiences of anxiety in an assessed, online, collaborative project (2020-01)
Hilliard, Jake; Kear, Karen; Donelan, Helen and Heaney, Caroline
Computers and Education, 143, Article 103675

How can we successfully integrate sport psychology into sport and exercise medicine education? (2018)
Heaney, Caroline
BASEM Today, 44 (pp. 22-25)

What do sports medicine professionals working in football need to know about sport psychology? (2018)
Heaney, Caroline
Football Medicine & Performance(26) (pp. 18-20)

Is there a link between previous exposure to sport injury psychology education and UK sport injury rehabilitation professionals' attitudes and behaviour towards sport psychology? (2017-01-31)
Heaney, Caroline A.; Rostron, Claire L.; Walker, Natalie C. and Green, Alison J.K.
Physical Therapy in Sport, 23 (pp. 99-104)

The impact of a sport psychology education intervention on physiotherapists (2017)
Heaney, Caroline A.; Walker, Natalie C.; Green, Alison J.K. and Rostron, Claire L.
European Journal of Physiotherapy, 19(2) (pp. 97-103)

Case report: the impact of a resubmission intervention on level 1 distance learning students (2017)
Pinchbeck, Jessica and Heaney, Caroline
Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-learning, 32(3) (pp. 236-242)

Sport psychology education for sport injury rehabilitation professionals: a systematic review (2015-02)
Heaney, Caroline A.; Walker, Natalie C.; Green, Alison J. K. and Rostron, Claire L.
Physical Therapy in Sport, 16(1) (pp. 72-79)

A qualitative and quantitative investigation of the psychology content of UK physiotherapy education (2012-10)
Heaney, Caroline; Green, Alison; Rostron, Claire and Walker, Natalie
Journal of Physical Therapy Education, 26(3)

The challenges and opportunities of teaching sport and exercise psychology at a distance (2012-09-02)
Heaney, Caroline and Walker, Natalie
Sport and Exercise Psychology Review, 8(2) (pp. 65-71)

Recommendations for successfully integrating sport psychology into athletic therapy (2006-03-01)
Heaney, Caroline
Athletic Therapy Today, 11(2) (pp. 60-62)

Physiotherapists' perceptions of sport psychology intervention in professional soccer (2006)
Heaney, Caroline
International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 4(1) (pp. 67-80)

Understanding Mental Health and Wellbeing in Sport (2021-07-14)
Heaney, Caroline
In: Heaney, Caroline; Kentzer, Nichola and Oakley, Ben eds. Athletic Development: A Psychological Perspective (pp. 183-200)
ISBN : 9780367721022 | Publisher : Routledge / The Open University | Published : London

Mental health and wellbeing on the athlete's journey (2021-07-12)
Heaney, Caroline
In: Heaney, Caroline; Kentzer, Nichola and Oakley, Ben eds. Athletic Development: A Psychological Perspective (pp. 181-183)
ISBN : 9780367721022, 9781003153450 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : New York

Effective athletic development: Closing thoughts (2021-07-12)
Heaney, Caroline; Kentzer, Nichola and Oakley, Ben
In: Heaney, Caroline; Kentzer, Nichola and Oakley, Ben eds. Athletic Development: A Psychological Perspective (pp. 247-250)
ISBN : 9781003153450, 9780367721022 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : New York

Relaxation techniques in sport injury rehabilitation (2013-04-05)
Walker, Natalie and Heaney, Caroline
In: Arvinen-Barrow, Monna and Walker, Natalie eds. The Psychology of Sport Injury and Rehabilitation (pp. 86-102)
ISBN : 978-0-415-69495-7 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon

Psychological responses to injury: a review and critique of existing models (2013)
Walker, Natalie and Heaney, Caroline
In: Arvinen-Barrow, Monna and Walker, Natalie eds. The Psychology of Sport Injury and Rehabilitation (pp. 23-39)
ISBN : 978-0-415-69495-7 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon

Creating a motivational climate (2009-07-17)
Heaney, Caroline
In: Heaney, Caroline; Oakley, Ben and Rea, Simon eds. Exploring Sport and Fitness: Work-based Practice
ISBN : 978-0-415-49155-6 | Publisher : Routledge/ The Open University

Active listening and effective questioning in sport and fitness (2009-07-17)
Heaney, Caroline
In: Heaney, Caroline; Oakley, Ben and Rea, Simon eds. Exploring Sport and Fitness: Work-based Practice (pp. 113-120)
ISBN : 978-0-415-49155-6 | Publisher : Routledge/The Open University

Ethical and professional issues in sport and exercise (2009-07-17)
Heaney, Caroline
In: Heaney, Caroline; Oakley, Ben and Rea, Simon eds. Exploring Sport and Fitness: Work-based Practice (pp. 121-130)
ISBN : 978-0-415-49155-6 | Publisher : Routledge/The Open University

Athletic Development: A Psychological Perspective (2021-07-14)
Heaney, Caroline; Kentzer, Nichola and Oakley, Ben eds.
ISBN : 9780367721022 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon

Exploring Sport and Fitness: Work-based Practice (2009-07-17)
Heaney, Caroline; Oakley, Ben and Rea, Simon eds.
ISBN : 978-0-415-49155-6 | Publisher : Routledge/The Open University | Published : Abingdon

The impact of emotions on student participation in an assessed, online, collaborative activity (2020-06)
Hilliard, Jake; Kear, Karen; Donelan, Helen and Heaney, Caroline
In : EDEN 2020 Online Annual Conference (22-24 Jun 2020, Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania) (pp. 143-152)

Using real time student feedback as an emotion awareness and regulation tool in an assessed, online, collaborative project (2020)
Hilliard, Jake; Wong, Patrick; Kear, Karen; Donelan, Helen and Heaney, Caroline
In : The 9th eSTEeM Annual Conference (29-30 Apr 2020, Milton Keynes, England)

Tutors’ understanding of students’ emotional experiences in assessed, online, collaborative activities (2020)
Hilliard, Jake; Kear, Karen; Donelan, Helen and Heaney, Caroline
In : CALRG Annual Conference 2020 (15-17 Jun 2020, Milton Keynes, UK)

Exploring the emotions of distance learning students in an assessed, online, collaborative project (2019-06)
Hilliard, Jake; Kear, Karen; Donelan, Helen and Heaney, Caroline
In : EDEN 2019 Annual Conference (16-19 Jun 2019, Bruges, Belgium) (pp. 260-268)

Emotion regulation strategies and goals of distance learning students in an assessed online collaborative project (2019)
Hilliard, Jake; Kear, Karen; Donelan, Helen and Heaney, Caroline
In : 28th ICDE World Conference on Online Learning (3-7 Nov 2019, Dublin, Ireland)

Bringing Sport Psychology into Physiotherapy (2016-11)
Heaney, Caroline; Walker, Natalie; Green, Alison and Rostron, Claire
In : British Association of Sport & Exercises Sciences (BASES) Conferences 2016 (29-30 Nov 2016, East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham)

Using social media to raise your profile (2015)
Heaney, Caroline and Owton, Helen
In : Faculty of Education and Language Studies Learning and Teaching Conference, Open University, Milton Keynes (7 Oct 2015, Milton Keynes)

The impact of sport psychology education on the practice of physiotherapists (2013)
Heaney, Caroline
In : International Sports Science and Sports Medicine Conference 2013 (21-23 Aug 2013, Newcastle upon Tyne)

Athlete preferences in the title and gender of sport psychology professionals: A preliminary investigation (2008)
Heaney, Caroline
In : 2008 Division of Sport & Exercise Psychology Inaugural Conference (11-12 Dec 2008, London)

The Impact of Sport Psychology Education on the Attitudes and Behaviour of Physiotherapists (2015)
Heaney, Caroline Ann
PhD thesis The Open University