An intake interview is the first meeting between a person seeking help (like a therapist or consultant) and the person offering help. It is a way for them to get to know each other and build a relationship. During this interview, the person seeking help can share their problems without fear of being judged, and the helper can understand what’s going on and set goals for their work together.
This type of interview is widely used in psychology, not just in traditional therapy but also in sports, exercise, and performance psychology. There is a lot of evidence showing that these interviews are important and effective in various fields (Taylor & Schneider, 1992; Andersen, 2000; Aoyagi et al., 2017).
Intake interviews can be done in different ways. They can be structured, where the helper follows a set of questions, or semi structured, where there are some set questions but the conversation is more flexible, or unstructured, where the questions come up based on how the person being helped responds. No matter the format, a good intake interview lays the foundation for successful therapy.
In sports, exercise, and performance psychology, there are specific interview protocols designed to gather information about an individual’s performance and well-being. One example is the Sport-Clinical Intake Protocol (SCIP) (Taylor & Schneider, 1992), which has different sections to assess specific information and is best suited for clinical work (Andersen, 2000). Another example is the Performance Interview Guide (PInG) (Aoyagi et al., 2017) which is used to assess an athlete’s current functioning.
Andersen, M. B. (2000). Beginnings: Intakes and the initiation of relationships. In M. B. Andersen (Ed.), Doing sport psychology (pp. 3 16). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Aoyagi, M. W., Poczwardowski, A., Statler, T., Shapiro, J. L., & Cohen, A. B. (2017). The performance interview guide: Recommendations for initial consultations in sport and per- formance psychology. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. Available from https://doi.org/10.1037/ pro0000121, Advance online publication.
Taylor, J., & Schneider, B. (1992). The sport-clinical intake protocol: A comprehensive interviewing instrument for applied sport psychology. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 23, 318 325.
