EFFECT OF POSITIVE SELF-TALK INTERVENTIONDURING SPORT INJURY RECOVERY IN STUDENT ATHLETES
Vahid Rouhollahi1
Abstract
Introduction: According to recent sport psychology studies,it has been accepted that one of the psychological strategies may help athletes to enhance performance andalsoit may encourage theathletes during sport injuries recovery is Positive Self-Talk (PST) thatis instructional and motivational in nature.Recently, sport psychology is suggested that the mind and body are inherently connected, so if the mental state of an athlete during anysport injuries recovery is positive, the body may more readily respond to therapy. Evidence reveals that PST leads to positive affect, and when injured athletes feel good, their minds can better concentrate on rehabilitationprocess; so, the aim of this study was quantifyPST before and after a sport injury recovery in order to get better understanding and accomplishing the PST during sport injury recovery period.
Method: A total 70pre-injury student athleteswhich engaged in team and individual sports competitions (e.g. soccer, basketball, track and field, swimming, tennis, karateand volleyball) at unprofessional level participated in the 2 years study from 2016 to 2018. Pre and Post injury the Self-Talk Use Questionnaire (STUQ) (Hardy, 2004)were usedin this research;also, all athletes had acute injuries and their injury severity was assessed by using Injury Severity Score (ISS). Finally, 35 student athletes(16 male; 22.30±0.66 years &19female; 21.40±0.86 years) completed the post injurySTUQand the BriefCOPE Inventory (Carver, 1997).The Paired Sample t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient were performed to analyze of data and level of significant set to P<0.05.
Results: The results of current study indicated that there was a significant effect of PST in female group as well as male group during sport injury recovery period.Our finding indicated that there was no any correlation between injury severity and PST. Injured athletes with severe injuries supported 12 of the subscales of coping strategies including planning, acceptance and seeking social support of the injury.
Discussion: This study highlighted the PST intervention may be a suitable strategy to improve injured athletes motivation and participation during sports rehabilitation process regardless of injury severity.
Conclusion:Based on the results of recent study, it is recommended to apply psychological interventions such as PST during sports injuriesrecovery.
Keywords: Psychology Intervention, Self- Talk,Sport Injury Recovery, Athletes, Adult.
Appendix:
1- Vahid Rouohollahi, Assistant Professor, Department of Motor Behavior, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran. Email: [email protected], Phone No.
09100043802.
