Psychological Flexibility in Competitive Athletes: Dataset, Protocol, and Supplementary Materials for a Scoping Review

This repository contains the dataset, retrospectively prepared protocol, PRISMA-ScR flow diagram, and supplementary materials supporting a scoping review of psychological flexibility in competitive athletes.

The review mapped the conceptualization and measurement of psychological flexibility and psychological inflexibility, observational associations with athlete outcomes, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy/Training (ACT), Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment (MAC), and related acceptance-based interventions used in competitive sport.

Web of Science Core Collection, Scopus, and PubMed were searched from database inception to 30 August 2026. The searches identified 496 records. After removal of 155 duplicate records, 341 records underwent title and abstract screening. Full texts were sought for 87 reports; seven reports could not be retrieved, and 80 reports were assessed for eligibility. Eight reports were excluded following full-text assessment. The final review included 72 reports representing 68 independent studies.

The repository includes:

1. Psychological_Flexibility_Scoping_Review_Final_Dataset.xlsx — search records, deduplication information, screening decisions, full-text assessment data, data-charting fields, review results, and the linked-report audit.

2. Retrospective_Scoping_Review_Protocol.pdf — a retrospectively prepared record of the review methods. This document should not be interpreted as a prospectively registered protocol.

3. Supplementary_Tables_S1-S5.docx — complete database-specific search strategies, characteristics of the included reports, reports sought but not retrieved, reports excluded after full-text assessment with reasons, and the report-to-study linkage audit.

4. Figure_1_PRISMA-ScR_Flow_Diagram.pdf — the PRISMA-ScR flow diagram documenting the study-selection process.

The materials are provided to improve transparency, reproducibility, and reuse of the review data. No identifiable personal or participant-level data are included.