Soccer accounts for more than 10% of all sport injuries in youth requiring medical attention. The injury rates in youth soccer where there is no established injury prevention program are estimated at 22-30 injuries/100 participants/year, or 3.4-5.6 injuries/1000 participation hours. Risk reductions ranging from 32-43% have been found for youth players participating in neuromuscular training programs, such as the FIFA 11+, that include agility, balance training, and strengthening components. Although studies have shown that the FIFA 11+ is effective at reducing injuries, there is poor uptake of the program in the youth soccer community. It is therefore important to develop ways of delivering the program to soccer coaches and players in order to maximize its protective benefit. The Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) is a behavior change theory that has been used to successfully predict the uptake of health behaviours in a number of populations, such as cancer screening and exercise, but has not been tested in sport injury prevention settings. The primary objective of this study is to examine the effect of a HAPA-based coach education intervention on adherence to the FIFA 11+ in a group of female youth soccer players over the course of one outdoor and one indoor season. The secondary objective is to examine the dose-response relationship between program adherence and injury, comparing program adherence and injury rates in outdoor and indoor soccer. Our hypothesis is that teams whose coaches receive a HAPA-based intervention will have greater adherence to the program than teams whose coaches do not receive the intervention, and that that injury incidence will decrease as adherence to the program increases. It is expected that program adherence will be lower and injury rates will be higher in indoor soccer compared to outdoor soccer.
The first wave of 16 teams will be recruited in spring 2013, and will be followed through the 2013 outdoor season, followed by the 2013-2014 indoor season. The second wave of 16 teams will be recruited in fall 2013, and will be followed through the 2013-2014 indoor season, followed by the 2014 outdoor season.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
214
A 3.5 hour workshop will target HAPA constructs by providing injury risk information (risk perceptions), FIFA 11+ effectiveness evidence (outcome expectancies), and hands-on experience administering the 11+ program to a soccer team (task self-efficacy). Action planning and coping planning exercises will also be conducted.
Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Team level adherence
The number of FIFA 11+ exercises completed by the team and the duration of the session will be recorded for each training session and game during the study seasons.
Time frame: duration of two soccer seasons, an expected average of 48 weeks
Individual level adherence
Individual participation in the team training or game session will be recorded, as well as an indication if that player participated in the FIFA 11+ warm up.
Time frame: duration of two soccer seasons, an expected average of 48 weeks
Injury
An injury sustained during soccer participation will be recorded. Injury is defined as "any injury occurring during soccer activity resulting in medical attention and/or the removal of the player from the current session and/or subsequent time loss of at least one soccer session (game or practice) as a direct result of that injury."
Time frame: duration of two soccer seasons, an expected average of 48 weeks
Change in HAPA Questionnaire responses from baseline to end of season 1 and season 2
A questionnaire will be used to assess changes in HAPA constructs (ie: outcome expectancies, risk perceptions, and self-efficacy) between baseline and the end of each playing season (ie: outdoor and indoor).
Time frame: Change from baseline to end of soccer season 1 (expected duration of 24 weeks) and to end of soccer season 2 (expected duration of 48 weeks)
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