2024 Volume 10 Issue 1 Pages 11-23
The Japanese Society of Clinical Sports Medicine and the Japanese Society for Athletic Training have developed the consensus recommendations on injury and illness surveillance methodology. This study aimed to assess the internal completeness and validity of data collected using the recommended methods by the academic societies. Participants were recruited using two methods : snowball sampling and outreach via social media platforms. Individuals who were involved in the evaluation of athletes and reporting of sports injuries on a daily basis were enrolled. They were tasked to read seven fictitious injury reports and fill out relevant information on a standardized injury and illness form. The internal completeness and inter-rater reliability were examined for the following variables : date of onset of injury/illness, activity type, history of injury, mechanism of injury, mode of onset, body part, pathology type, side of injury, date of full return to play, illness evaluation, and illness diagnosis. The inter-rater reliability was evaluated using Flaissʼ kappa coefficients. A total of 70 and 367 responses were analyzed from snowball sampling and social media, respectively. The internal completeness of the data was almost perfect when reported by licensed/certified healthcare professionals (97.8-99.4%) except for dentists (73.68%). Regarding internal validity, the data collected for Illness evaluation and illness diagnosis had poor agreements (k=−0.11-0). In conclusion, the standardized reporting form consisted of recommended variables was suitable in collecting comprehensive data with a high internal completeness. However, the inter-rater reliability of the data collected for illness evaluation and illness diagnosis was notably low, indicating a need for improved methodologies．
