2013 Volume 40 Issue 2 Pages 139-152
The purpose of this study was (a) to examine how post-injury psychological states (competitive motivation, anxiety, impatience, isolation, disappointment, depression, and exhaustion) change in comparison with pre-injury states, and (b) to clarify the change of support provider and support content sought by injured athletes during the three phases of recovery prior to returning to competition. A population of 457 university athletes completed a questionnaire on their post-injury psychological state, the change of social support sought post-injury, and beneficial social support during rehabilitation. Results revealed that injured athletes experienced decreased competitive motivation and increased anxiety, impatience, isolation, disappointment, depression, and exhaustion. Results suggested that injured athletes sought support from “teammate", “student trainer", and “coach" before returning to competition and from “teammate" and “student trainer" during rehabilitation. Regarding support content, “technical advice" and “listening" consistently scored high, and “comforting", “material assistance", and “practical assistance", factors which may influence the state of recovery, decreased as injury improved. Finally, “technical advice" and “evaluation" which may influence post-recovery competitive activity increased as full recovery drew closer.
