Athletic identity and sport injury: a systematic review and meta-aggregation

Changes in athletic identity have been documented after injury and other sport transitions in nomothetic investigations. Patterns of change in athletic identity after injury have not been examined systematically at the individual level. In the current study, secondary analyses were performed on two data sets (N = 43 and N = 80) in which athletic identity values were available for before and at least six months after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. A stable pattern of athletic identity was most common (48-68% of participants), followed, respectively, by a decreasing pattern (19-45% of participants) and an increasing pattern (7-14% of participants) in both data sets, with a trend toward a decreasing pattern over time in the data set in which athletic identity values were available up to two years after surgery. Partial support was obtained for the claim that decreases in athletic identity after ACL surgery are related to postoperative perceptions of knee symptoms and function. The current intraindividual findings complement the results of nomothetic studies and suggest that although stability of athletic identity after sport injury seems to be the norm, changes in athletic identity are also common and should be considered in applied work with athletes who have sustained injuries.

Introduction: Sports injuries can affect athletes across all ages, sexes, and levels of competition. The mental aspect of acute sports injury is often overlooked by coaches, trainers, and medical professionals. This study investigated if and how an acute traumatic sports injury affects an athlete’s psychological well-being, adherence to sport, and athletic identity. Methods: The study consisted of surveys sent to former or current athletes over 18 with one or more athletic injuries. The Qualtrics surveys were anonymous, and participants consented to the study within the survey. Results: There were 101 total participants (20.2% response rate) with an average age of 36. All reported one or more acute athletic injuries throughout their athletic careers. Specific survey sets were compared against each other using a variable correlation analysis (p - value < 0.05) and via Pearson’s Correlation. Conclusion: The results indicated that injury impacts the lives of athletes most significantly on the field and can harm their performance based on their perception of the severity of the injury. However, this decline in performance and decrease in confidence does not correlate to an athlete’s desire to leave their sport or how they identify as being an athlete. Takeaways: 1) The stronger an individual identifies as being an athlete, the more likely they are to continue their sports career after an injury. 2) An athlete’s self-worth after an injury significantly impacts their feelings outside athletics. 3) For athletes emotionally impacted by their acute traumatic injury, the injury was a significant factor regarding their athletic performance.

Sport psychology embraced the study of athletic identity in the 1990s. The Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS) is at the forefront of athletic identity measurement. This quantitative review examined two hypotheses: individual who are most engaged in sports identify most as athletes and thus score higher on the AIMS, and athletic identity relates to positive (e.g., intrinsic motivation) and negative (negative emotions) factors. In addition to our two hypotheses, we explored whether the AIMS subscales influenced our two hypotheses. After completing a systematic search of SPORTDiscus, APA PsycINFO, ERIC, and Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection APA within the EBSCOhost platform along with some hand searching, 101 articles published between 1993 and our end date of August 2021 met the inclusion criteria. The included studies investigated 20,498 athletes competing in a variety of sports from the following continents: Australia, Asia, Europe, and North America. We based all analyses on random- and mixed-effects statistics. Higher-achieving athletes, as expected, self-reported a higher degree of athletic identity. The differences between athlete groups were significant (p < 0.001) and meaningful (g values ranged from 1.55 to 1.93). The AIMS total score correlations with positive and negative factors (correlates) were small in magnitude (r = 0.22 and 0.17). However, the relationships differed across correlate subcategories (e.g., intrinsic motivation/commitment, r = 0.51, and body issues, r = 0.14). Minimal AIMS subscale reporting occurred across the 101 studies; thus, we could not assess their importance with certainty. In conclusion, a higher degree of athletic identity related to valued sport correlates such as intrinsic motivation/commitment and the mastery goal orientation. These correlations were small in relation to negative or less desirable factors in sport such as body disorder issues and negative emotions. We recommend future research of greater complexity and the reporting of athletes’ competitive backgrounds to understand athletic identity. In addition, researchers should report AIMS subscale data.

The COVID-19 global pandemic caused the cancellation of all sports and disrupted the lives, workout regimens, academic assistance, team social support systems, athletic identity, and mental health of athletes. International student-athletes (ISAs) were a particular population affected and understudied. This study explored the psychological distress level experienced by ISAs during the early stage of the pandemic and examined the effects of self-compassion, resilience, and social support on their distress. Data were collected in April and May 2020 from a larger parent study which included 514 ISAs from all three NCAA Divisions, 74 countries, and 22 different sports. Results suggested ISAs were experiencing similar levels of distress as domestic student-athletes, non-athletes, and other international populations but there was a significant gender difference where ISA women reported significantly higher psychological distress than ISA men. Findings also indicated that self-compassion, resilience, and social support negatively predict psychological distress of ISAs. Although resilience and social support did not moderate the relation between self-compassion and psychological distress when examined separately, a significant interaction effect between resilience and self-compassion on psychological distress (p = .0497) was found when exploring the double moderator model. Specifically, ISAs high in resilience and low in self-compassion were the most distressed. Counseling and preventive interventions to enhance self-compassion, resilience, and social support of ISAs are discussed. Limitations, DEI implications, and future research directions of this study are outlined.

Following Mass Casualty Incidents (MCIs), the sudden surge in demand for essential services disrupts the balance between available and required resources. This study aimed to systematically identify and categorize existing systems employed for dispatching professional or lay rescuers during emergencies. Adhering to the PRISMA 2020 Checklist, the research scrutinized international databases (PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science) using formulated search strategies. Additionally, a manual search was conducted on Google Scholar and prominent journals employing specific keywords. Original articles introducing systems for dispatching rescuers to incident sites were included. Thirty-one of the 23051 initially identified documents were included for data extraction and quality assessment. The comprehensive analysis revealed twenty-two dispatch systems worldwide, contributing to life-saving efforts in emergencies. Additionally, an evaluation of the articles' quality using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) with five scores, indicated that more than two-thirds of the identified articles scored four or higher. Summarizing the data extracted from these systems, four distinct categories of recall system characteristics were identified: general, dispatcher, responder, and other features. Technology has the potential to revolutionize the delivery of healthcare services. This study highlights four key elements necessary for the development of dispatch systems that can effectively mobilize healthcare providers to the incident scene. These elements include general characteristics, dispatcher roles, responder requirements, and additional features, which equip researchers with the knowledge for designing effective systems to recall healthcare providers during MCI.

BackgroundMixed methods designs are increasingly used in health care research to enrich findings. However, little is known about the frequency of use of this methodology in chiropractic research, or the quality of reporting among chiropractic studies using mixed methods.ObjectiveTo quantify the use and quality of mixed methods in chiropractic research, and explore the association of study characteristics (e.g., authorship, expertise, journal impact factor, country and year of publication) with reporting quality.MethodsWe will conduct a systematic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and the Index to Chiropractic Literature to identify all chiropractic mixed methods studies published from inception of each database to December 31, 2020. Articles reporting the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods, or mixed qualitative methods, will be included. Pairs of reviewers will perform article screening, data extraction, risk of bias with the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT), and appraisal of reporting quality using the Good Reporting of A Mixed Methods Study (GRAMMS) guideline. We will explore the correlation between GRAMMS and MMAT scores, and construct generalized estimating equations to explore factors associated with reporting quality.DiscussionThis will be the first methodological review to examine the reporting quality of published mixed methods studies involving chiropractic research. The results of our review will inform opportunities to improve reporting in chiropractic mixed methods studies. Our results will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed publication and presented publicly at conferences and as part of a doctoral thesis.

This article focuses on the narrative identity dilemmas of four men who have experienced spinal cord injury (SCI) through playing rugby football union and now define themselves as disabled. The biographical data illustrate how body-self relationships moved from an absent presence in the lives of these men to something that was other, problematic, and alien. This transformation instigated anxieties concerning the combined loss of specific masculine and athletic identities that were formerly at the apex of the participants' identity hierarchy. In such circumstances, the desire for a restored self is highlighted, as are the limited narrative resources that frame this coping strategy. Suggestions for how this situation might be changed are then offered.

Hot flashes: behavioral treatments, mechanisms, and relation to sleep

ObjectiveThis review aims to synthesise evidence on the predictive role of self-reported psychological readiness measures in return to sport (RTS) after sports injury.MethodsThe study adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA 2020) statement, employing both electronic database searches (including Web of Science, Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection, PubMed, SPORTDiscus, and Scopus) and manual searches. The inclusion criteria for this study comprised two key elements: (1) articles published in international journals in English; (2) articles utilising psychological readiness for RTS scales in their research. The exclusion criteria included the following: (1) articles unrelated to sports injury topics; (2) articles about concussions; (3) psychological readiness unrelated to RTS; (4) grey literature; (5) review studies; (6) articles utilising psychological readiness for RTS scales that were non-English translations; and (7) articles examined mental states after sport injuries using only one type of measure, either emotional or self-efficacy rather than a comprehensive assessment. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool.ResultsSixty-two relevant studies were included. The results of the systematic review indicated that psychological readiness self-assessments can be categorised into four key domains: 1) predicting physical recovery outcomes (n = 24), 2) predicting return to sport practices (n = 18), 3) predicting quality of life-related to injury and reinjury rates (n = 7), and 4) predicting post-return sport performance levels and physical activity levels (n = 13).ConclusionThis review underscores the value of psychological readiness assessments as predictors of RTS outcomes. The findings support their clinical utility, while also highlighting the need for further research into injury-specific and objective measures to enhance assessment accuracy. This systematic review has been registered in PROSPERO (registration number: CRD42025642947).

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Impact of psychological status on cardiovascular diseases: Is it time for upgrading risk score charts?

Unnecessary abdominal and back surgery in irritable bowel syndrome: time to stem the flood now?

IntroductionPeople with dementia are more likely than people without dementia to be hospitalized and to experience in-hospital preventable adverse events, such as falls, skin injury, and infection, compared to other hospitalized groups. Negative attitudes towards people with dementia are common among acute healthcare workers and have been linked to a cascade of negative adverse events in this population. However, no qualitative systematic review has ever been conducted to synthesize the existing evidence in this area, which hampers the development of preventative measures.AimThis is a protocol for a qualitative systematic review aimed at exploring and synthesizing existing qualitative evidence regarding the attitudes of nursing staff towards the prevention of adverse events among hospitalized people with dementia.MethodsLiterature searches will be performed in PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Biblioteca Virtual de Salud, Scopus, The Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar. The references of eligible studies will be checked for eligibility. All primary qualitative or mixed-methods studies with a qualitative component published in peer-reviewed academic journals in English, Portuguese, or Spanish will be eligible. There will be no limitations to the date of publication. The selection process will be conducted independently by two researchers using the software Rayyan and then compared and discussed. Any disagreements regarding eligibility will be discussed among the entire research team and resolved via consensus. Methodological quality will be assessed using Cochrane’s guidance. A meta-aggregative approach will be employed to extract and synthesize the evidence using the software package QARI from the JBI. The confidence in the findings will be graded using ConQual.ImplicationsThis review will help identify and better understand specific attitudinal and psychosocial aspects that influence nursing care delivery for people with dementia in hospital settings. Such data can be used to generate novel explanatory models of nursing behaviors in dementia care, as well as capacity building and training to enhance hospital care for people with dementia globally.