Quality management of sport psychology care in competitive sports - (no) effect without acceptance?!

In the past decade quality management (QM) has grown to be one of the most important topics in the area of applied sport psychology. There we discuss structures, processes, and results concerning QM, considering the QM model of the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM). In terms of results, quality can be defined in three areas: the coaching process itself (e. g., satisfaction and well-being of coach and client), psychological skills (e. g., efficacy of techniques used by the client), and health, personality, as well as sport performance (e. g., client's motor behavior in training and competition). Measures and processes to improve and ensure quality in these three areas are discussed as being dependent on four types of determinants: associated institutions, sport psychologists (i.e., individual competence and valence of tasks), coaching character, and socio-economic factors. As key processes of QM in this complex structure, both orientation to stakeholders and communication about quality and QM measures are identified.