The Analysis of The Article "Short-term Psychological Intervention: a Study of Long-term-injured Competitive Athletes" by Johnson

Short-Term Psychological Intervention: A Study of Long-Term-Injured Competitive Athletes

Athletes who perform at competitive levels are among the top in shape people around the world. However, when these athletes sustain long-term injuries it could be detrimental for their careers. It is the jobs of professionals to assure that an athlete will recover and regain mobility, usually through physical therapy.

The article “Short-Term Psychological Intervention: A Study of Long-Term-Injured Competitive Athletes” analyzes a trial conducted by Johnson, was to explore and analyze the effects of introducing short-term psychological interventions to improve mood and to promote physical rehabilitation in injured competitive athletes that sustained long-term injuries.The design of the study was set up into two groups, a control, and an experimental group.

The study had 58 patients total, with 52 men and 6 women. 14 patients were put in the experimental group and 44 in the control group. Groups were randomly selected in which every fourth patient was put into the experimental group. After random selection, the experimental group consisted of 14 men, whereas the control group was made up of 6 women and 38 men. Each patient that was chosen for the study was injured either during a training session or while competing. The patients are all athletes that come from a broad range of sports, the study found that 82% of the athletes coming from a team sport such as soccer, European handball, and American football. The remaining 18 % are athletes who compete in individual sports such as track and field and gymnastics. [1: Johnson, U. (2000). Short-Term Psychological Intervention: A Study of Long-Term-injured Competitive Athletes. Journal of Sport Rehabilitation,9(3), 207-218. doi:10.1123/jsr.9.3.207].

To be considered for the study, the athlete would need to be above 18 years of age, complete the Psychosocial Risk Factors and Sport Injury (Q-PRSI) questionnaire to prove that they pose no psychosocial risk behavior and they must be unable to return to their sport for a minimum of 5 weeks for their injury to be considered a long-term injury. The athletes were given training for three skills to use of the course of 12 weeks, stress management and cognitive control, which was aimed at helping athletes cope with their trauma and learning how to use cognitive reappraisal strategy to look at their injury in a positive way or as a challenge they eventually learn to overcome instead of seeing their injury in a negative light. Goal setting is the second technique where athletes learn to set goals and attain them by setting continually setting long-term, immediate and short-term goals.

Relaxation/ guided injury is the final technique where athletes learn basic relaxation techniques and mental training to connect with their injury on a mental level to picture their injury recovered and picture regaining full mobility. They practiced relaxation and guided injury for 15 minutes a day, four days a week. The athletes in the experimental group met with the same sports psychologist training one skill per session, for three 15- to 25-min sessions. The first session introduced the skill to the athlete, the second session the athlete was asked to practice the psychological skill while being supervised by the designated sports psychologist and in the third session the athlete was asked how they will apply the skill on their own. The trial evaluated the athletes’ mental states and mood before, during and after the trial by administering tests and a questionnaire that all 58 athletes were meant to complete. In total, there were 7 tests and scales used during each of the three test sessions all used to determine whether psychological interventions had a positive impact on the athletes’ moods and mindsets toward their injuries, which would ultimately aid their physical healing.

The methods of evaluation include:

• the Questionnaire Psychosocial Risk Factors and Sport Injury (Q-PRSI),
• the Mood Adjective Checklist (MACL), the Diagnostic Checklist1(DCL:1),
• the Patient's Self-Rating Questionnaire (PSQ).

The second session took place 6-7 weeks after the beginning of the trial, during this session only the MACL was used. During the third and final session, the athletes are expected to return to the sport with full mobility, more confidence, and better mood and the MACL, Diagnostic Checklist 2 (DCL:2), and PSQ were used to assess the athletes. The Q-PRSI is a 59 question questionnaire used to determine whether a patient was likely to have a troubled rehabilitation by evaluating factors such as goal setting and mood level. The MACL is designed to measure six bipolar mood dimensions such as activity-passivity and control versus lack of control (confident versus insecure).

The Diagnostic Checklist 1 and 2 are a series of questions done by the physiotherapist at the beginning and at the end of treatment to evaluate the patients’ physical status. The PSQ is a self-evaluation done by the athletes to determine how they view their efforts and whether they deem themselves physically and mentally prepared to return to competition and training after their rehabilitation. The authors found that 1 of three skills was the most effective, that of relaxation and guided imagery when comparing the control and the experimental group. They also found that the MACL revealed that the experimental group had a better mood overall by the end of the trial compared to the control group.

After the first session, the MACL results showed both the control and experimental were at similar low mood levels, however, after the second and third session, the experimental group’s mood improved greatly. Personally, I believe that this trial and the results of the trial have definitely shed light on the positive impact of adding phycological skills, in addition to physical rehabilitation to an athletes recovery to help improve their mood and injury. However, I cannot say that I am 100% confident in the findings due to a number of factors that could have had an effect on the outcome of the trial.

Firstly, the control group and the experimental group were different sizes, with the control group having 44 athletes, and the experimental group having only 14. Secondly, the women were unevenly dispersed between both groups, with the control group with all six women and the experimental group with none. Finally, there was an age difference between the groups, with the mean age the 14 being the experimental group being 23.5 and within the control group the overall mean age was 23.7 with the mean age of men being 24.1 and the mean age of the women at 21.5[footnoteRef:4] Overall, there is still a limited amount of studies done to determine whether or not psychological interventions during rehabilitation has an effect on one's injury recovery, this trial, however, is a good start.

To conclude, the results of the trial indicates, that the addition of short-term psychological intervention skills, such as stress management and cognitive control, goal setting and relaxation/ guided imagery alongside physical rehabilitation have a positive effect on athletes by elevating their mood when trying to recover from long-term injuries. With more research that is needed to be done, this cognitive training should be highly considered among athletic trainers and professionals in sports management as a great way to aid athletes in recovering from their injuries.