An investigation into the psychological responses of injured athletes
Year: 1998
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This thesis examined the psychological responses of injured athletes as a basis for \ndesigning theoretically meaningful intervention strategies to expedite recovery from \nsports injuries. The thesis is written as a series of research papers (studies). The \nmethodological approaches adopted ranged from quasi-experimental to qualitative \nresearch in a naturalistic rehabilitation setting. The first study reported the \ndevelopment of a theoretically derived psychometric measure to assess athletes \npsychological responses to injury, initially using exploratory factor analysis and \nsubsequently, confirmatory factor analysis. The Psychological Responses to Sport \nInjury Inventory (PRSII) comprised five sub scales (Devastation, Dispirited, \nAttempts to Rationalise, Isolation and Reorganisation). In its final form the PRSII \ncontained 20 items. The PRSII was found to possess adequate psychometric \nintegrity. The second study examined the effects of a goal-setting intervention on \ninjured athletes rehabilitation adherence, perceptions of self and treatment efficacy \nand the psychological response variables assessed by the PRSII. The study provided \nsupport for the effects of goal-setting upon athlete adherence, self-efficacy, \ntreatment efficacy, and reorganisation. However, the hypothesised effects for \ndispirited and isolation were not found. As a result, a qualitative follow-up study \nwas conducted to more closely examine the effects of the goal-setting intervention. \nThe qualitative follow-up study proposed a number of possible mechanisms for the \neffects of the goal-setting intervention. These included the effects of goal-setting on \nself-efficacy, attributions, perceptions of control, and attention. The final, \ncollaborative action research study employed a multi-modal intervention with three \nathletes rehabilitating from injury. The efficacy of social support, goal-setting, \nimagery, simulation training and verbal persuasion emerged from the study. The \nstudy highlighted the importance of outcome expectancy and goal flexibility. In \nrelation to the re-entry phase of rehabilitation, confidence in the injured body part, \nand the ability to meet game demands emerged as important to participants \nsuccessful return to competition.
Author: Lynne Evans
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1807007656