Effectiveness of a stress management pilot program aimed at reducing the incidence of sports injuries in young football (soccer) players

Abstract

Objectives Several attempts to reduce the incidence of sport injuries using psychosocial interventions produced fruitful, although inconclusive results. This paper presents the effectiveness and implementation issues of a pilot 3-month stress-management and muscle relaxation program aimed at reducing sport injury incidence. Design Pre-post treatment-non treatment group comparison. Program administration The program was administered by a trained psychologist on a once-a-week, 1-h session basis. Participants Seventy-four male soccer players from four National Youth league teams voluntarily participated. Teams were randomly assigned to either treatment/non-treatment group. Measures Injury protocol, Self-monitoring cards, Athletes' satisfaction and commitment survey, Coaches' interview. Results Group main effect and Time-Group interaction effect were both statistically significant, F(1,60) = 8.30, p = 0.005, η2p = 0.121, with the average number of injuries larger in the post-treatment phase of non-treatment group (p = 0.005, η2p = 0.077). There was a significant decrease in the average number of injuries for the intervention group before and after implementing the program (p < 0.001, η2p = 0.309). Conclusions A controlled implementation of a psychosocial program was effective in reducing youth soccer sport injuries, with a high level of satisfaction and commitment from the athletes, as well as high acceptance from the coaches