Parental perceptions of sports injury risk

- Otago, Leonie, Garnham, Jennie, Reynolds, Michael, Spittle, Michael, Payne, Warren, Finch, Caroline, Maher, Shelley

  • Authors: Otago, Leonie , Garnham, Jennie , Reynolds, Michael , Spittle, Michael , Payne, Warren , Finch, Caroline , Maher, Shelley
  • Date: 2005
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: Paper presented at 2005 Australian Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport, Fifth National Physical Activity Conference, Fourth National Sports Injury Prevention Conference : Promoting Innovation, measuring success, Melbourne Convention Centre, Melbourne, Victoria : 13th-16th October 2005
  • Full Text: false
  • Description: Health benefits of children’s participation in physical activity such as reduced risk of obesity and diabetes are promoted to parents. However parents’ perceptions of injury risk in sports and how this perception may affect their choice of sport for their child is unknown. The study surveyed 5385 parents of children from 5 – 17 years in 46 sports. A total of 887 surveys were returned. The Health Belief model was the theoretical framework for the study and the sports were divided into four groups – contact, incidental collision, limited contact and non-contact. Mothers completed the forms in 63% of cases and 52.2% of the children were males. The child selected the sport in 51.6% of` cases and generally parents did not believe that their involvement in their child’s sport choice would ensure their child was safer from injury. In the main parents did not believe the sport their child participated in was less likely to cause injury than other sports and this trend increased as the level of contact increased. Trained coaches were seen as very important in reducing injury risk in sport. Generally modified sport was not seen to positively impact on the parent’s choice of sport and parents did not think that cost of protective equipment was a barrier to providing for their child. Parents generally felt that they could assess the risk of injury in a sport but were not influenced by the risk of injury when allowing their child to play a particular sport.
  • Description: 2003001109

Perceptions of injury prevention in community level netball and Australian Rules football players

- Bennett, Fiona, Otago, Leonie, Swan, Peter

  • Authors: Bennett, Fiona , Otago, Leonie , Swan, Peter
  • Date: 2005
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: Paper presented at 2005 Australian Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport, Fifth National Physical Activity Conference, Fourth National Sports Injury Prevention Conference : Promoting Innovation, measuring success, Melbourne Convention Centre, Melbourne, Victoria : 13th-16th October 2005
  • Full Text: false
  • Description: The significant cost of injury rehabilitation to the individual and the community combined with the funding provided for injury prevention (IP) research over the past decade demands some measurement of the effectiveness of IP programs. The measurement of IP strategies is a complex issue because injury prevention relies on the behaviours of the sports people involved. This study involved qualitative analyses of interviews conducted with ten netball players and seven football players. The players were selected from the highest and lowest senior grades of a semi-rural community level club. Data collected from the interviews were transcribed and analysed using themes to categorise the information. The findings highlight the different structural issues faced by community level netball and Australian Rules football players. Players who had been exposed to higher levels of competition appeared to have an increased use of and better attitude towards the use of IP measures. Some of the contrasts highlighted were the structure, access and availability of IP measures to players. Netball players did not have access to sports trainers or protective equipment and the choice to use IP strategies was a more personal choice. In contrast, the football clubs had sports trainers and protective equipment was offered to players at no cost. The most significant theme emerging from the study related to the social influences at the community level. The players’ attitudes and beliefs were directly attributable to the acceptance and promotion of IP strategies by significant people within the clubs.
  • Description: 2003003332

Out of school hours sport as a physical activity intervention : Promoting innovation and measuring impact

- O'Meara, James, Spittle, Michael

  • Authors: O'Meara, James , Spittle, Michael
  • Date: 2005
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: Paper presented at 2005 Australian Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport, Fifth National Physical Activity Conference, Fourth National Sports Injury Prevention Conference : Promoting Innovation, measuring success, Melbourne Convention Centre, Melbourne, Victoria : 13th-16th October 2005
  • Full Text: false
  • Description: Children’s activity choices and patterns of activity in the after-school-hours period (between the end of school and dinner) can be important predictors of daily activity levels The Out of School Hours Sports Program (OSHSP) is a state-wide physical activity initiative that provides structured sporting experiences for children in formal out-of-school-hours care (OSHC) involving 17 State Sporting Associations (SSAs) and 70 OSHC services. Participants in the evaluation were 86 children (27 girls and 59 boys) and 86 parents, and 20 deliverers of the OSHSP at various OSHC services. The average age of the children was 7.7 years (SD = 1.6). Measures included surveys, focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis. The OSHSP initiative was evaluated over three years on four levels: reactions of the deliverers, advances in skills and knowledge, attitudes of the deliverers, and success of the initiatives against program objectives. The evaluation suggested that deliverers remained concerned about the requirements of delivering the initiative. Often deliverers did not modify their current practices to match the objectives of the OSHSP, possibly due to a clash between deliverer beliefs and program objectives. The children were having fun (97.5%) and learning new skills (89%). Most participants (76.7%) indicated an intention to continue their participation in the sport being delivered at the OSHSP into club sport participation. Children in the OSHSP were generally very active, with most (88%) already participating in sport outside the OSHSP suggesting that the target population may be difficult to access.
  • Description: 2003003800

The state of sport injury risk management in Victoria

- Otago, Leonie

Individual risk management strategies in basketball and hockey

- Otago, Leonie, Swan, Judy, Plaisted, Vicki

  • Authors: Otago, Leonie , Swan, Judy , Plaisted, Vicki
  • Date: 2005
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: Paper presented at 2005 Australian Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport, Fifth National Physical Activity Conference, Fourth National Sports Injury Prevention Conference : Promoting Innovation, measuring success, Melbourne Convention Centre, Melbourne, Victoria : 13th-16th October 2005
  • Full Text: false
  • Description: In Australia, the vast majority of sport is played at the community level rather than at an elite level. This paper will explore the congruence of participants’ beliefs about various aspects of sports injury at the community level and their injury prevention (IP) practices. The results of the study will help to direct our efforts as injury prevention researchers and practitioners in the field. The study used survey data of 165 basketball and hockey players to explore attitudes to injury prevention using the health belief model. The study explored the benefits and barriers to injury prevention strategies such as the use of mouthguards, shin pads, taping/bracing and warming-up and cooling-down. Hockey players felt that they were significantly more susceptible to injury than basketball players. The perception of benefits and barriers as factors in injury prevention use was significantly different between the groups. Hockey players demonstrated more positive attitudes to IP use and this is borne out in their behaviours. The significant predictor of IP usage in basketball games was the number of injuries sustained. The Health Belief Model does not appear to be useful in predicting IP use in basketball. It may be possible to influence the uptake of IP use in basketball by incorporating educational programs which relate the realistic potential for individuals to be injured. In hockey, perceived barriers were the most important predictors of IP gear use, with barriers to mouthguard use being significant. The more positively participants viewed mouthguards, the more IP strategies they employed overall.
  • Description: 2003003329

The risk management knowledge of basketball coaches and their influence on the injury prevention strategies of their players

- Otago, Leonie, Swan, Judy, Ramage, Steven

  • Authors: Otago, Leonie , Swan, Judy , Ramage, Steven
  • Date: 2005
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: Paper presented at 2005 Australian Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport, Fifth National Physical Activity Conference, Fourth National Sports Injury Prevention Conference : Promoting Innovation, measuring success, Melbourne Convention Centre, Melbourne, Victoria : 13th-16th October 2005
  • Full Text: false
  • Description: This study examined coach influence on players to use injury prevention (IP) measures and whether coaching accreditation influences a coach’s knowledge of injury prevention. Twenty-seven coaches were surveyed in a face to face interview. A total of 132 players completed surveys with approximately one half being in teams with a coach. The researchers also observed games and noted IP measures before and after games. Twenty of the coaches had completed a coach accreditation course with 70.3% believing that they had good or better knowledge of IP measures. Over 50 % of coaches obtained their knowledge from playing and only 18.5% of coaches believed that their knowledge came from coach accreditation courses. Three-quarters of the coaches believed that they had a major role in IP education of players and they believed that warm-up was the major IP measure which reduced the risk of injury. Only 29.6% of coaches indicated that they would not allow an injured player to compete in a game. A total of 65.9% of players indicated that they warmed up prior to a game however 100% warmed-up on observation although the maximum warm-up observed was 3 minutes. The coach was the major influence (42.5%) on players’ IP use. Players believed that the coach encouraged warmups the most followed by cool-downs however no team cooled-down after games. Coached players displayed more IP strategies than players without a coach. This study highlighted the importance of coaches in IP and efforts must be made to include IP information in accreditation courses.
  • Description: 2003003336

An investigation of neuromuscular characteristics for two intervention programs in an attempt to reduce ACL injury risk in netball

- Saunders, Natalie, Otago, Leonie

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