Interventions for developing selective and sustained attention in adolescent athletes: a scoping review

Selective and sustained attention are key cognitive functions associated with athletic performance and represent trainable abilities during adolescence. Although various intervention approaches have been investigated to enhance attention in young athletes, the available evidence has not been comprehensively mapped. Therefore, the aim of this scoping review was to identify and map the available interventions designed to develop selective and sustained attention among adolescent athletes and to summarize their characteristics, assessment methods, and reported outcomes.

The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. The research question was developed using the Population-Concept-Context (PCC) framework. A systematic search of six electronic databases (ScienceDirect, ProQuest, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and EBSCOhost) was conducted in December 2025. Data were extracted using Microsoft Excel and synthesized narratively.

Six studies met the inclusion criteria, comprising 393 participants. Among the 367 participants for whom sex/gender was reported, 170 (46.3%) were female. The included studies primarily focused on adolescent athletes aged 11-20 years; one study included a broader age range, although its intervention group corresponded to the target adolescent population. The identified interventions included cognitive training, cognitive-motor dual-task training, mindfulness-based interventions, perceptual-cognitive training, and sport-specific approaches targeting selective and/or sustained attention. A variety of assessment instruments and measurement methods were used to evaluate attention-related and other cognitive outcomes. Most studies reported improvements in selective and/or sustained attention following the interventions; however, substantial heterogeneity in intervention characteristics, outcome measures, and study designs limited direct comparisons across studies.

The available evidence indicates that several intervention approaches have been explored for developing selective and sustained attention in adolescent athletes. However, the small number of studies and considerable methodological heterogeneity preclude firm conclusions regarding intervention effectiveness. Future research should prioritize well-designed intervention studies with larger samples, standardized intervention protocols, and more consistent attention assessment methods.