The Effect of a Behavioural Intervention on Injury Prevention Program Adherence in Female Youth Soccer

Soccer accounts for more than 10% of all sport injuries in youth requiring medical attention. The injury rates in youth soccer where there is no established injury prevention program are estimated at 22-30 injuries/100 participants/year, or 3.4-5.6 injuries/1000 participation hours. Risk reductions ranging from 32-43% have been found for youth players participating in neuromuscular training programs, such as the FIFA 11+, that include agility, balance training, and strengthening components. Although studies have shown that the FIFA 11+ is effective at reducing injuries, there is poor uptake of the program in the youth soccer community. It is therefore important to develop ways of delivering the program to soccer coaches and players in order to maximize its protective benefit. The Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) is a behavior change theory that has been used to successfully predict the uptake of health behaviours in a number of populations, such as cancer screening and exercise, but has not been tested in sport injury prevention settings.

The primary objective of this study is to examine the effect of a HAPA-based coach education intervention on adherence to the FIFA 11+ in a group of female youth soccer players over the course of one outdoor and one indoor season. The secondary objective is to examine the dose-response relationship between program adherence and injury, comparing program adherence and injury rates in outdoor and indoor soccer. Our hypothesis is that teams whose coaches receive a HAPA-based intervention will have greater adherence to the program than teams whose coaches do not receive the intervention, and that that injury incidence will decrease as adherence to the program increases. It is expected that program adherence will be lower and injury rates will be higher in indoor soccer compared to outdoor soccer.