Examination of the validity of the Injury-Psychological Readiness to Return to Sport (I-PRRS) scale in male professional football players: A worldwide study of 29 professional teams.

Perceived confidence is an important dimension of an athlete's psychological readiness to return-to-play. However, there is no established and validated tool to evaluate confidence in professional football. This study aimed to provide preliminary evaluation of the internal structure of the Injury-Psychological Readiness to Return-to-Sport scale (I-PRRS) in a cohort of injured male professional footballers. Over an 18-month period, 29 teams from 17 leagues participated. Players sustaining injuries eliciting ≥ 3 weeks' time-loss were recruited. Cross culturally adapted to 4 further languages, the I-PRRS was administered on two occasions: 1) day before returning-to-training and 2) day before returning-to-match-play. In total, 113 injuries were recorded with 96 completed I-PRRS data sets collected. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated the I-PRRS was a unidimensional scale, with all items measuring the same construct. The scale demonstrated good internal consistency (ω = .88). When examining longitudinal invariance of the I-PRRS across administration time-points, indices of model fit supported scalar invariance. There was preliminary evidence of good internal structure for the I-PRRS in professional male footballers. However, before further research involving the I-PRRS can be endorsed, efforts to confirm or refute empirical developments pertaining to psychological readiness are necessary

Self presentation concerns and risky rehabilitation behaviors among adolescent athletes

Self-presentational concerns have been shown to predict a range of health damaging behaviors in a variety of life domains (Martin Ginis &amp; Leary, 2004). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between self-presentational concerns and injured athlete health-risk behaviors (e.g., overdoing rehabilitation). Data with currently injured US adolescent athletes (n=90) competing in a range of high school sports was obtained. Self-presentational concerns about appearing athletically untalented (AAU), physical appearance (PA), fatigued/lacking in energy (FLE), and mental composure inadequacies (MCI) were assessed using the 21-item Self-Presentation in Sport Questionnaire (SPSQ; McGowan, Prapavessis, &amp; Wesch, 2008). Injury risk behaviors were measured using the Rehabilitation Behaviors and Beliefs Questionnaire (RBBQ) and a modified version of the Injury Psychological Readiness to Return to Sport Scale (I-PRRS; Glazer, 2009).As the RBBQ was a novel instrument, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted. EFA results indicated two distinct interpretable factors with eigenvalues exceeding 1.0?rehabilitation behaviors (RBBQ-RBH, ?=.80) and rehabilitation beliefs (RBBQ-RBL, ?=.78). Subsequent correlational analysis revealed significant small to moderate correlations between AAU, MCI and the RBH factor (r = .29-.30, p &lt; .01). Finally, linear stepwise regression analyses indicated that AAU predicted 9.2% (8.2% adjusted) of the variance in risky rehabilitation behaviors (RBBQ-RBH; ? = .304, p &lt;.01). These findings suggest that athletes with greater self-presentational concerns may be more likely to engage in risky rehabilitation behaviors. Minimizing concerns about appearing athletically untalented may be important for preventing risk behaviors that increase the subsequent likelihood of reinjury and diminished post-injury performance.</p