Development and Preliminary Validation of the Injury-Psychological Readiness to Return to Sport (I-PRRS) Scale (Original Research) (Report‪)‬

Athletic injuries are an unfortunate part of sport participation. When an athlete is injured, he or she experiences not only physical loss but also psychological loss. (1-3) Between 5% and 19% of injured athletes report psychological distress levels similar to individuals receiving treatment for mental health problems. (4,5) Heil (6) indicated that the self-efficacy and confidence beliefs of injured athletes can decrease before returning to participation. Because athletes may have anxieties concerning return to play and possible reinjury, (5) they not only need to be physically prepared to return to sport after injury but also psychologically ready. Returning injured athletes to sport before they are psychologically ready can lead to fear, anxiety, reinjury, injury to different body parts, depression, and a decrease in performance. (7,8) Presently, only a few scales measure confidence within sport. (9) Two such scales are the Trait Sport Confidence Inventory (TSCI) and the State Sport Confidence Inventory (SSCI). (10) Feltz (11) suggested that confidence in sport-specific situations would be better assessed using measures particular to the situation rather than using the TSCI and SSCI, which are general trait assessments. Therefore, a sport-specific situation, such as an athlete returning from athletic injury, should have its own unique assessment for confidence. The formats of the TSCI and SSCI require athletes to rate their confidence compared with the most confident athlete they know, choosing anyone from a teammate to a professional. This can cause scores on the TSCI and SSCI to vary from high to low, depending on whom the athletes selected. (9) Better measures are needed to assess injured athletes' confidence and psychological readiness to return to sport participation. (12) Therefore, a sport psychometric test to specifically assess the self-efficacy of injured athletes to return to play is necessary. The main purpose of this study was to develop a scale to specifically assess the psychological readiness of injured athletes to return to sport participation. My second purpose was to provide preliminary evidence of reliability and validity of the scale.