Construction and communication of evidence-based video narratives in elite sport: Knowledge translation of sports injury experiences

Abstract

A knowledge-transfer ‘gap’ exists within the sport injury psychology literature. This gap has led to recent calls to translate the evidence base in more accessible, relevant, and multi-sensory formats to facilitate research uptake and impact. Heeding this recommendation and informed by narrative inquiry, the purpose of this multi-study paper was twofold: Study 1 aimed to construct videos that translated evidenced-based narratives of sports injury experiences by working collaboratively with a digital learning practitioner, videographer, and user-group (i.e., elite athletes). Study 2 explored end-users’ perspectives of these video narratives in communicating sports injury research by conducting 11 focus group interviews with 69 participants (i.e., athletes, coaches, and practitioners). A reflexive thematic analysis identified that the video narratives communicated sport injury psychology research in accessible, evocative, and relevant ways. Considerations of how to implement these video narratives into professional practice are critically discussed.

 Lay summary: This study addressed the knowledge-transfer gap in sport injury psychology by constructing and exploring how video narratives communicate research findings. Findings identified that the videos translated knowledge in accessible, evocative, and relevant ways.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

• This study bridges the knowledge-transfer gap in sport injury psychology by constructing and exploring end-users’ perspectives of video narratives in translating and disseminating sport injury psychology research

• This study provides an evidence-base, methodology, and practical know-how for future researchers aiming to translate and disseminate their research to end-users in accessible and engaging ways

• Six video narratives are offered that can be accessed and used in professional practice

In elite sport, where athletes’ livelihoods can be dependent upon sports participation, the impact of a sports injury on athletes’ well-being, mental health, and long-term athletic career potential can be devastating (Rice et al., 2016). To support the safety and welfare of athletes, researchers in the field of sport injury psychology have endeavored to both reduce the risk of injury and provide psychological strategies to assist rehabilitation following injury (Evans & Brewer, 2022). Yet, while this field of research has significantly advanced our theoretical, empirical, and applied understandings of sports injury, the uptake and impact of this scholarship has been limited. Put another way, the sport injury psychology literature has remained essentially hermetic, with limited transferability to those who could potentially derive value from its uptake (e.g., athletes, coaches, practitioners; Leggat, 2020). Given the recent calls both within academia (e.g., Wadey & Day, 2022) and the public discourse (e.g., Baroness Grey-Thompson, 2015) to support the well-being, mental health, and longevity of elite injured athletes, this knowledge-transfer gap is now a timely and pressing concern.

Considering the imminent need to reduce this knowledge-transfer gap (see Wadey & Day, 2022), and to help inform future research, it is first important to consider why this “gap” might exist. Two pertinent issues have been foregrounded (Leggat, 2020). The first issue relates to dissemination, whereby the research is not reaching end-users (i.e., athletes, coaches, practitioners). For example, published research behind paywalls limits access to research findings. The second issue relates to translation, whereby the knowledge reaches end-users, but is not able to be understood or acted upon by them. Shedding further insights into these issues, both within the sport injury psychology literature and beyond, coaches and practitioners have outlined their barriers to accessing and implementing research knowledge, which, inter alia, include not knowing where to find information, lack of time, inaccessible language, unclear relevance, and research that lacks practical applicability (McCormick et al., 2020). Accounting for these challenges, sport psychology researchers have advocated for alternative ways of disseminating research, which allow the intended audience to both access research knowledge and then engage with it (McCormick et al., 2020). For example, previously Bekker et al. (2017) advised translating research into a “product” that is digestible and can be implemented into professional practice. Other researchers have highlighted how coaches and practitioners prefer knowledge to be presented in more multi-sensory formats, including audio or visual methods, and dispersed via educational workshops, rather than through journals or conferences (Fullagar et al., 2019; Szedlak et al., 2019). Consistent with these preferences, athletes reported how online videos were one of their most preferred methods of seeking information on sport psychological issues (McCormick et al., 2020). Yet, despite these suggestions, it has been argued that the sport injury literature continues to be predominately “written for researchers by researchers” (Bekker et al., 2017, p. 5) and dispersed in peer-reviewed journals and academic texts thereby, perpetuating this knowledge-transfer gap (Leggat, 2020).

One multi-sensory approach that could potentially address the dissemination and translation challenges within the field of sport injury psychology, and support injured athletes, is video narratives (Archibald et al., 2021). Video narratives can be defined as an arts-based form of knowledge translation (ABKT), that is, they are an art-form (i.e., short-form videos) used to communicate research evidence (i.e., evidence-based narratives) through exchange or dissemination (Archibald et al., 2021). Informed by narrative inquiry (i.e., a psychosocial approach concerned with the examination of stories; Frank, 2010; Smith et al., 2015), narratives communicated through videos, are premised on the assumption that as humans we are storytellers. Therefore, to make sense of our experiences and communicate those experiences to the world, we formulate and share stories, shaped by the narrative scripts available within our social and cultural worlds (Smith & Sparkes, 2009).

To further expand on the narrative inquiry underpinnings of video narratives, it is important to illustrate the difference between a story and a narrative (Smith & Sparkes, 2009). Through a narrative inquiry lens, a story can be viewed as a specific tale an individual or group tells. Meanwhile, a narrative can be understood as a socio-cultural plotline that individuals rely on to construct their personal stories, as these plotlines act as a template that helps connect events by providing an overarching explanation or consequence (Smith & Sparkes, 2009). That said, the distinction between a narrative and a story can be difficult to sustain as “narratives only exist in particular stories, and all stories are narratives” (Frank, 2013, p. 224). Yet, this distinction is useful in understanding that although individuals may tell tales of their experiences, their stories are “never wholly a personal production” (Frank, 2010, p. 14) as they are derived from a “cultural repertoire of narratives,” available to them (Frank, 2010, p. 109). To this end, video narratives underpinned by narrative inquiry can illustrate the co-constitutive relationship between an individual’s experience and the construction of that experience by a given socio-cultural plotline. Moreover, narrative inquiry understandings have been theorized to support athletes by generating contextualized understandings of their lived experiences and/or by expanding the narrative resources available to them to help them understand, interpret, and construct their experiences (McGannon et al., 2022; Williams, 2020).

Given these functions of narratives in both enhancing understanding and expanding possibilities for individuals, some researchers have aimed to harness the communicative capacities of narratives to disseminate their findings beyond journal publications. For example, researchers have used narratives to educate others about abuse within sport (McMahon et al., 2018, 2022), amplify marginalized mental health perspectives (Carless & Douglas, 2016), and disperse physical activity research more broadly (Smith et al., 2015). Drawing from this literature, narratives have been illustrated to help communicate complex information in ways that are highly accessible to diverse audiences. For example, by using personal stories, and providing a credible plot and characters, narratives can engage diverse audiences by using a format of communication that is authentic, engaging, and familiar (Smith et al., 2015).

Leveraging this capacity of narratives and combining it with visual representation arguably holds greater potential to translate and disseminate research in more accessible and powerful ways; hence, it is of growing interest to knowledge translation (KT) researchers (Archibald et al., 2021). To illustrate, the accessibility of this format is enhanced by societal shifts, as by the end of 2022, video-based content is predicted to account for 82% of consumer internet traffic, which is indicative of its preference, proliferation, and popularity within the broader community (Cisco, 2020). Furthermore, given the increasing calls to democratize research knowledge, videos could potentially broaden the scope and reach of research as they can be dispersed freely online through various forums and websites (Carless & Douglas, 2016). As an ABKT tool, video narratives also have the potential to impart knowledge in meaningful ways by creating shared and embodied understandings (Archibald et al., 2018). For example, within a sporting context, narrative scholars have advocated for the use of videos by illustrating how the visually appealing, emotive, and evocative nature of videos could potentially communicate storied research in more impactful ways than audio or written formats (Smith et al., 2015). This capacity of video narratives to communicate storied research more powerfully, could in part relate to how videos can harness the emotive qualities of storied research by amplifying affect. As Rich and O’Connell (2012) depict, it is the affective quality of images which underscores the potential for visual representations above other possible forms. This is because affect “makes us care about things” and thus creates resonances to research knowledge in ways that go beyond the threshold of articulated reading (Rich & O’Connell, 2012). Yet, despite video narratives offering this fruitful alternative to traditional text-based forms of dissemination, the obscurity surrounding both the construction, and end-users’ perceptions, of such an ABKT tool, has restricted its uptake to date (Archibald et al., 2018). This obscurity perhaps explains why it has received limited research attention across sport psychology generally and within sport injury psychology specifically.

Recognizing the need to translate sport injury psychology research in accessible and impactful ways (e.g., Leggat, 2020) the purpose of this multi-study paper is to extend the literature by constructing (Study 1) and exploring end-users’ perceptions of (Study 2) video narratives of sports injury experiences of elite track athletes. The narratives underpinning the videos within this research were informed by an existing evidence-base (Everard et al., 2021), which answered calls for research on elite track athletes because of the normalization of injury and subsequent negation of injury experiences embedded within the culture of this sport (Howe, 2004). This prior narrative inquiry study, aimed to counter this normalization and breathe meaning into the many ways athletes experience injury through co-constructed life-history interviews with 15 elite track athletes. These interviews were analyzed using dialogical narrative analysis (Frank, 2010), to identify the narrative typologies (i.e., “the most general storyline”) that could be recognized underlying these athletes’ injury stories (Frank, 2013, p. 75). Six narrative typologies of injury were identified: resilience, merry-go-round, longevity, pendulum, snowball, and more to me. By foregrounding the many ways elite track athletes experience injury, the authors postulated that these narratives could help cultivate empathy and understanding and expand the narrative resources available to athletes to help frame or re-frame their injury experiences.

Aligning with this remit, and to help facilitate the uptake and impact of these multiple injury narratives, the aim of this study is to first translate this evidence-base by drawing upon an innovative and timely ABKT tool (i.e., video narratives). In doing so, the objective was to bridge the knowledge-transfer gap by disseminating this research in a format that end-users could potentially engage in. Moreover, by foregrounding the construction of these video narratives, we hope to provide an evidence-base for other researchers who may intend to translate and disseminate sport injury psychology research. Following the construction of these videos and aligned with the knowledge-transfer gap, Study 2 aims to understand end-users’ perspectives of the video narratives as a communication tool using narrative pedagogy (Goodson & Gill, 2011). Understanding end-users’ perspectives of video narratives is pertinent in enhancing the future uptake and relevancy of this emerging ABKT tool (Archibald & Scott, 2019). To illustrate, by generating insight into how end-users engage with video narratives and what properties of the video narratives potentially facilitate this engagement, it can ensure that future sport injury KT researchers can harness these elements when aiming to disseminate their findings more broadly (Archibald & Scott, 2019). Moreover, given recent calls to work, “with,” rather than, “on,” participants (Wadey & Day, 2022), understanding end-users’ perspectives of how video narratives communicate research, can ensure that the future use of video narratives is also tailored to end-users’, as opposed to solely researchers, suggestions.

Study 1: construction of video narratives

Guided by narrative inquiry which proposes that our lives are storied, and selves are narratively constructed (Frank, 2010), this study is informed by six evidenced-based sports injury narratives (Everard et al., 2021) and underpinned by a relative ontology and subjectivist epistemology (Smith & Deemer, 2000). To expand, ontologically, we subscribe to the belief that no single, mind-independent, external reality exists; rather, reality is multiple, fluid, and mind-dependent. Epistemologically, we assume knowledge is subjective and constructed through interaction between the researcher and participants. In this sense, we acknowledge that the evidenced-based narratives that informed this study represent our interpretations of the original participant interviews and that the participant data (i.e., quotations) was co-constructed between the researcher and the participants (for more details see Everard et al., 2021). Moreover, aligning with this overarching philosophy, the translation of the six evidence-based narratives (Everard et al., 2021) into a video format can be viewed as being socially constructed between the research team, a digital learning practitioner (DLP), user-group (i.e., elite athletes), and videographer. To help contextualize the method, the six videos created are as follows: Resilience: Resilience—YouTube; Merry-Go-Round: Merry Go Round—YouTube; Longevity: Longevity—YouTube; Pendulum: Pendulum—YouTube; Snowball: Snowball—YouTube; More-to-Me: More to Me—YouTube

Method

Participants and researchers

To promote a collaborative approach in the construction of the video narratives (Smith et al., 2022), a DLP and user-group (i.e., elite athletes) were initially recruited. The DLP had extensive experience in developing short-form evidence-based videos (> 10 years) and prior experience in constructing videos for sporting audiences. For the user-group, a purposive sampling strategy (i.e., criterion-based) was used to recruit information-rich participants, whose role was to provide continual critical feedback throughout the construction process. Aligning with the underpinning research by (Everard et al., 2021) the criteria were that they had to be elite (i.e., World or Olympic Level), track athletes, who had prior experiences of sports injuries. Six current elite track athletes (n^male = 3, n^female = 3) with a mean age of 27.3 (S = 3.44) were recruited and agreed to form a user-group.

Regarding the researchers’ background, the first author who was primarily involved in constructing the videos with the DLP, user-group, and videographer had competed in elite athletics for over 10 years and had experienced several injuries within that timeframe. These experiences coupled with her knowledge of working as a physiotherapist within sport, positioned her according to Berger (2015), as a cultural “insider” to this research project. While this “insider” knowledge was useful for having an embodied and contextual understanding of how to represent these narrative findings, it also presented some challenges. For example, given her “insider” status, in the early phases of the video construction, the first author often agreed with the user-group suggestions that the videos lacked the “look and feel” of an elite athlete video, but then struggled to articulate why the videos lacked these elements to the DLP. However, in these instances, the other members of the research team, who could be classified as cultural “outsiders” (Berger, 2015), acted as critical friends by questioning and probing the first author on her “insider” knowledge (e.g., What’s missing? Why is that important? How should a video on elite sport feel?). In doing so, it enabled the first author to better articulate feedback to the DLP and to engage in more critical dialogue with the user-group to help tease out how the videos could be reconstructed to capture more contextualized understandings. The second, third, and fourth authors also had extensive knowledge of both the sport injury psychology and narrative inquiry literature and therefore helped to ensure that the videos held academic integrity throughout the construction process.

Procedure

Both university ethical board approval and relational ethical approval by participants in the previous study were sought from the outset of the study. Upon receiving ethical approval, the construction of the video narratives began, which occurred over nine months and comprised several “steps.” While these “steps” are now listed systematically, they occurred dynamically and iteratively in practice and are intended here to provide a heuristic rather than a formulaic guide for readers and future researchers. Throughout each “step,” the first author met with individual members of the user-group either in-person or via online platforms (e.g., Zoom), to discuss and review video edits. Following these meetings and to enhance the rigor of the research, the first author wrote up notes and communicated the findings to the research team to debate, interpret, and reflect upon (Sparkes & Smith, 2014). Communication with the DLP occurred online via email, zoom, and platforms for sharing and editing material (i.e., slack and frame.io). Constructing the videos was a collaborative process. Nonetheless, to protect against the possibility of “cobiquity,” whereby researchers inflate claims of co-production within participatory research (Smith et al., 2022), we wish to accentuate that decision-making was primarily determined by the DLP and research team. To guide the decision-making process the DLP drew upon his experimental knowledge and previous experience in constructing educational videos (i.e., craft knowledge; Smith et al., 2022). Meanwhile, the research team were guided by narrative inquiry (Frank, 2010), literature guidelines, and the evidence base (i.e., Everard et al., 2021) which informed these video narratives. This approach was taken due to a consideration of the user-groups’ time and lack of resources available to accommodate the user-groups’ input in a more co-productive manner (Smith et al., 2022). That said, the user-groups involvement extended beyond being merely “tokenistic” (Smith et al., 2022), as considerable changes were made to the videos subject to the user-group’s ongoing feedback.

The first step in the construction process was to create the narrative scripts with the DLP, user-group, and research team. This first draft of these scripts was written by the first author, informed by six evidence-based injury typologies (Everard et al., 2021). In this draft, the first author aimed to prioritize participant quotations over the authors’ interpretations, to “show rather than tell” these athletes’ experiences, and to illustrate how narrative typologies can “speak” themselves through personal stories of injury. To accommodate for a short-form video duration of 5 min—as recommended by the DLP, supported by the visual media literature (Lambert, 2013), and subsequently approved by the user-group—the content of each narrative was also re-written in a condensed format to circa 800 words. To render the narrative scripts more accessible and relatable to nonacademic audiences (Scott et al., 2012), they were further edited by the first author, subject to feedback from the user-group who suggested where the content could be made more user-friendly. The scripts were further reviewed by the research team to ensure that they held academic integrity.

In the second step, the auditory material was created. Here, the first author provided a voice-over of the narrative script, which was depicted using a third-person narration. This decision was guided by narrative literature that reports how third-person narrations promote a spectator perspective and allow for a fuller and more refined explanation of events when compared to first-person narrations (Oatley, 1999; Wylie, 2003). However, to enhance the verisimilitude and relatability of participants’ quotations, these were depicted using the first person. This is because first-person narrations have been advocated to foster a greater sense of identification with narrative characters and to promote more emotive responses (Oatley, 1999; Wylie, 2003). To expand, Oatley depicts how most writers advocate moving back and forth between identification and spectator perspectives, fashioned by first- and third-person narrations respectively. In doing so, it helps create an optimal esthetic distance, whereby the recipient can experience emotions and reflect upon them to assimilate their meaning. To reflect the diversity of voices contained within the original narrative study, to ensure adequate representation, and to enhance the transferability of the video narratives (Smith, 2018), male and female athletes from various countries (Ireland, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia) were asked to create the voice-overs for the participant quotations.

In the third step, the visual content was created. To begin, the first author and DLP worked collaboratively to create visual material that could help situate the narrative content (i.e., injury and elite track and field) by drawing upon several sources: YouTube, Stock, and Art-grid (subject to copyright). However, early feedback from the user-group revealed that the visual material was too generic (i.e., it wasn’t contextual to elite environments, the characters didn’t “look like” elite athletes), it wasn’t evocative or sensual enough (i.e., it didn’t move the watcher or evoke embodied reactions) and it was incongruent with the narrative scripts. One member of the user-group reported, “I think the narration is great and the messages are really relatable, but I don’t know it was just missing something … when I was watching it (merry-go-round), I wasn’t exactly getting heartbreak from it. It also just didn’t have the ‘feel’ that I would expect from an elite athlete video.” This ongoing feedback highlighted the necessity to create some additional visual material that was firstly both contextual and congruent, as Rossiter and Garcia (2010, p. 41) depict; “There are two narratives in a digital story, the overt narrative heard in the voice-over, and the covert narrative perceived by the viewer from the images. The two must act in accord.” Secondly, the user-groups’ ongoing references to both “feel” and emotion encouraged the research team to extend beyond merely illustrative examples of the narrative content and instead to strive to translate the research in more multi-sensory and embodied ways. Accordingly, a videographer with experience working within elite sport and injury and recommended by the user-group, was recruited to create bespoke visual material.

Following the decision to create additional visual material, informed consent was obtained to record two groups of elite track athletes on two separate occasions. To create a contextual and relatable backdrop to the study, based upon consultations with the user-group and videographer, we recorded athletes participating in a track-based training session within an elite training environment. Elite training environments are synonymous with injury (Howe, 2004), and upon recording the footage, the first author observed how this training context was littered with symbolic and ubiquitous meanings of injury. To illustrate, the performative content of the six injury typologies was conveyed in the semiotic presence of foam rollers, rehabilitation bands and equipment, coupled with athletes training and performing injury management strategies (e.g., rehabilitation exercises, massage), set against the backdrop of circulating conversations about injury. In capturing this familiar environment in which injury was omnipresent, we aimed to both enhance the translation of the narrative content and engage the exposed sensibilities of end-users through embodied memory (Merchant, 2011).

Drawing upon the phenomenology research, which provides “a bridge toward understanding how viewers engage with images” (Marks, 2000, p. 150), embodied memory relates to the capacity of the audience to reconstruct an understanding of what the experiences, situations, and objects on the screen felt like. This reconstruction is possible as through previous and repeated exposure to similar situations, experiences, and objects, the audience commits to memory the sensations, emotions, and practices that they elicit in the body (Merleau-Ponty, 1962). Therefore, even when the viewers’ exposure to them is only partial, for example, via sight and sound, they can draw upon their embodied memory to experience them more fully (Merchant, 2011). To this end, by evoking embodied memory, end-users can be brought into a dyadic relationship with the narrative content. Put another way, evoking embodied memory, could call on viewers to become communicative bodies, in which the experiences of another can only be apprehended through all the senses of their own body (Frank, 2013). Indeed, embodiment could translate these storylines in ways that transcend the verbal, by inviting others to recognize themselves in the narratives presented (Frank, 2013).

To further enhance both the authenticity and embodied translation of the six storylines, we aimed to capture the “expected feel” of an elite athlete video and promote a sense of haptic-visuality, whereby “the eyes themselves function as organs of touch” (Marks, 2000, p. 162). To this end, the videographer aimed to capture more close-up kinesthetic footage of athletes in motion, by running alongside athletes at certain points while other times placing the camera at various angles and locations around the track to capture multiple and moving vantage points. Such footage would subsequently be used to provide more visceral accounts of athletes running through pain (i.e., snowball narrative), or to convey an embodied sense of forward momentum as illustrated within the longevity narrative. The videographer further captured athletes in acute states of sensory activity, breathing, sweating, rubbing, slapping, spitting, and sniffing to produce a vivid, detailed, and authentic construction of the “lived and fleshy” sporting body, which opens more directly onto a viewer’s sensorium (Sparkes, 2017).

Finally, given the potential capacity of video to amplify the affective qualities of storied research (Smith et al., 2015), which can connect and engage audiences with the material presented, the videographer created more emotive material by capturing “close-up” footage of athletes’ facial expressions and bodies. The face in film is of particular importance as although it is seen in passing, it is a stable object of our attention, expressing “tiny local movements that the rest of the body usually keep hidden” (Deleuze, 2005, p. 90; MacDougall, 2006). Moreover, drawing upon the concept of mimesis (Merleau-Ponty, 1962), MacDougall (2006) reports, how a videographer’s ability to evoke emotive and corporeal responses in viewers, can be “as basic as showing them certain facial expressions” (p. 23). Accordingly, by capturing “close up” footage of athletes grimacing, clenching, frowning, downward and side glancing, smiling, and laughing, we sought to evoke the wide spectrum of emotions depicted across all six video narratives. Once sufficient emotive, performative, and contextual visual material was obtained, recording ceased. Considerable attention was then devoted to matching this footage and other visual material to the narrative content. Subsequent feedback from the user-group revealed that the visual content had “the look and feel” of an elite athlete video, was emotive, and conveyed the narrative contents “much more congruently.”

The fourth step ensured that the textual information to match the narrative voice-over was created. The inclusion of text was suggested by the DLP and further supported by both the user-group and literature guidelines (see Scott & Le, 2021). While the DLP collaborated the textual and auditory material, it was continuously modified throughout, subject to feedback from the user-group and research team. Finally, the background music was selected to help contribute to the flow of the narration, support the emotions depicted within the videos, and enable viewers to connect more potently to the content depicted (Kämpfe et al., 2011). Multiple drafting was then required to collaborate these various elements (i.e., narrative, auditory, visual, textual material, background music) and to render the videos suitable for dissemination. The final version was deemed ready for review when there were no additional comments from the user-group, research team, and DLP.

Methodological rigor

Guided by a relativist position for judging the quality of qualitative research (Sparkes & Smith, 2009) and drawing upon previous narrative communication guidelines (Scott et al., 2012; Scott & Le, 2021; Smith et al., 2015), in judging the quality of the videos, we invite viewers to consider the following five characterizing traits: (a) authenticity: Are the video narratives authentic? Do they have a credible and relatable plot, content, and characters? (b) relatability: Do they resonate with viewers? (c) accessibility: Are the videos informative and easy to understand? (d) engagement: Are they evocative and visually appealing? (e) content: Are they empirically driven (Everard et al., 2021) and informed by narrative inquiry (Frank, 2010)? Extending the list of traits used to judge video narratives, this study proposes two new criteria which were deemed imperative throughout in creating a valuable and critical resource: video coherence and cohesiveness. Within the current study, we define coherence as the fit between visual, auditory, textual material, and background music. For example, was the video narrative consistent throughout? We define cohesiveness as the connection between the video narrative contents. For example, did the narration flow from one temporal phase to the next?

To assist the reader’s responses to these questions, we drew upon the following strategies. First, we assessed these traits throughout the development process by posing questions to the user-group who acted as critical friends (Sparkes & Smith, 2014). Where amendments were suggested, we worked collaboratively both as a research team and with the DLP to make changes. For example, to enhance the cohesiveness of the videos, the user-group suggested a pause between the different temporal phases of the merry-go-round to allow for the previous material to “sink in” before transitioning to the next. To enhance the relatability, congruence, and cohesiveness of the videos, they further suggested having a central character interspersed throughout certain videos to “help bring it together a bit more.”

Second, following completion of the videos, external reflections were sought and received from three other elite athletes (n^female = 2, n^male = 1) in the user-group who were asked to review the videos using the “think-out-loud” method (Houston et al., 2011). This method has been indicated as a useful tool in assessing for engagement and comprehensibility and involves the participants vocalizing their thoughts, feelings, and opinions whilst interacting with the videos (Houston et al., 2011). Participants reported how the videos were authentic, relatable, congruent, emotionally, and intellectually engaging. One athlete reported, “Usually, I’m so distracted by emails and texts pinging, but I was completely absorbed for those five minutes. It felt really relatable, and I know this will be relevant to other athletes and coaches too.”

Study 2: communication of video narratives

Following the construction of the video narratives, Study 2 aimed to explore how these video narratives could act as a communication tool in translating and disseminating research knowledge, by gathering feedback from end-users (i.e., athletes, coaches, practitioners). To guide the exploration of these video narratives, we drew upon narrative pedagogy, that is, an educational tool that involves sharing narratives with participants and then collaborating with participants by engaging in meaning-making, deep dialogue, and exchange to generate new understandings about the issue in contention (Goodson & Gill, 2011). Indeed, previous narrative pedagogy researchers have illustrated how narratives are not only a way for individuals to make sense of their experiences (e.g., by expanding narrative resources, Frank, 2010), but allow for pedagogical encounters, which facilitate an understanding of issues through reciprocal exchange (McMahon et al., 2022). Our rationale for using narrative pedagogy is that it aligned with our guiding research philosophy (i.e., ontological relativism, epistemological constructivism), and was suited to exploring the aims and scope of Study 2 by allowing the first author to collaborate with end-users in an equitable manner to construct knowledge through reciprocal dialogue (McMahon et al., 2018).

Method

Participants

Criterion-based and maximum-variation sampling strategies were used to recruit participants and enhance the study’s potential generalizability (i.e., naturalistic generalizability and transferability; Smith, 2018). Criterion-based sampling was used to recruit participants who were: (a) elite athletes, (b) participated in track and field, and (c) 18+ years old. In total, 23 athletes were recruited from the United Kingdom, Ireland, and America (n^female = 13, n^male = 10). To extend the scope and reach of the study beyond athletes and given that injury narratives can work on and through practitioners (Howe, 2004), the “team behind” track athletes were also recruited to assess for the transferability of the research findings: (a) elite track and field coaches, and (b) elite practitioners that have worked within track and field and/or across other elite sports (i.e., sport psychologists, physiotherapists, physiologists, strength and conditioning coaches, nutritionists, performance/lifestyle advisors, performance directors). Collectively, 46 elite practitioners accepted the invitation to participate: 17 sport psychologists, 10 physiotherapists; five nutritionists, four strength and conditioning coaches, three lifestyle advisors, three track and field coaches, two physiologists, and two performance directors.

Procedure

Identified as being particularly advantageous for exploratory studies (Sparkes & Smith, 2014), focus groups were chosen as they can encourage a lively collaboration and promote more spontaneous, expressive, and emotional views. To capitalize on shared experiences, mitigate the influence of power dynamics, and reduce the potential implication of unwillingness to share information for fear of criticism, homogenous focus groups were used for both elite coaches and athletes. Meanwhile, service providers were organized in a heterogenous manner (i.e., a mix of service providers), to reflect real-world settings where service providers act collectively to support injured athletes by dispersing and implementing evidence-based research. Overall, 11 focus groups were conducted with between 3-and-16 participants included in each (m = 6.2).

Guided by narrative pedagogy (Goodson & Gill, 2011), the first author sought to establish an accepting and empathetic environment by creating and building rapport with and among participants. To this end, at the outset of the focus group, details of the research project were outlined, informed consent was obtained, and participants were invited to introduce themselves and share their own experiences of injury and/or working with elite injured athletes. Moreover, throughout the pedagogy process, the first author drew upon her experiences as a cultural insider where appropriate to help build rapport and contribute to the reciprocation and deep dialogue necessary for pedagogy (McMahon et al., 2022). The narrative pedagogy process comprised of three phases; narration, collaboration, and location, which were conducted in turn, for each video narrative, dynamically and reciprocally. To begin, the first author shared the video narrative with the focus group (i.e., narration). After initial sharing, the video narratives were then examined by posing open-ended questions (e.g., “What were your perceptions/thoughts/impressions of the video?”) and collaborating with participants to better understand how the video narratives could act as a communication tool in translating and disseminating injury experiences. Following this process of collaboration, the first author aimed to locate the research. This process was achieved by outlining details of the existing evidence base which informed the videos, discussing how the videos presented related to other forms of research and providing theoretical insights into narrative inquiry where necessary. This information was presented in a PowerPoint presentation, yet it was integrated and discussed in an ad-hoc and intuitive manner. This decision was based upon previous narrative pedagogy researchers’ recommendations, who indicated that introducing too much academic material can disrupt the flow and process of narrative exchange (McMahon et al., 2018). Considering this contextual information, participants were then invited to further discuss the video narratives, before concluding the focus groups. Each focus group lasted between 100-120 min. All data were recorded and transcribed verbatim.

Data analysis

A reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) was chosen to analyze the qualitative dataset (Braun & Clarke, 2020). An RTA was chosen as it focuses on patterned meanings concerning a research question and allowed for theoretical and analytical flexibility during the interpretative stages of analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2020). The process of doing an RTA involved several phases which were fluid and recursive rather than rigid and structured. To begin, the first author familiarized herself with the material which involved reading and re-reading the transcripts, listening and re-listening to the audio tapes. In doing so, she aimed to capture ideas about potential patterns of meanings through immersion. Following this stage, initial codes were then created which aimed to capture significant meanings of the dataset relevant to the research question (i.e., end-users’ perspectives of the video narratives as a communication tool). These codes were then clustered together to form overarching themes, which related to patterns of meaning united by a shared idea (Braun & Clarke, 2020). For example, the codes “narratives are relatable,” “narratives are emotive,” “narratives promote critical thinking,” were collated and combined to form the theme “meaningful connections.” During this phase, to help build analytical depth and frame the interpretations made, the first author drew upon narrative inquiry (Frank, 2010), the visual media literature (Archibald et al., 2021), and previous narrative communication studies (Smith et al., 2015). Writing also began in this phase and formed part of the analysis, as multiple drafts of these preliminary themes were sent to the coauthors for review, who provided feedback both in writing and in person, as part of critical friends’ discussions (Sparkes & Smith, 2014). Once the preliminary themes were formed, they were further reviewed, collapsed, and refined by comparing them against both the transcripts and coded dataset. To facilitate this process, an overall story was written for each transcript and reviewed against the overall story captured within the themes presented (Trainor & Bundon, 2021). Finally, the themes were defined to “capture” interpretative stories of the data and sequenced in a coherent format, to try a build a story that could convey the relevance of this dataset to both the research question and the context of this study in a compelling manner. To illustrate, for the video narratives to act as a communication tool that could facilitate the translation and dissemination of research knowledge, end-users first had to understand the information presented (communicating lived and diverse sports injury experiences), engage with it (meaningful connections), and take the information on board. In doing so, it may subsequently lead to them sharing this research (knowledge dissemination), which promotes a wider consideration of the use of video narratives as a communication tool.

Methodological rigor

We invite readers to consider the following characterizing traits (Sparkes & Smith, 2009; a) topic of the research: Is it relevant, timely, and significant? (b) coherence of the research: Does the study hang together in terms of purpose, methods, and results? and (c) rigor of the research: Is the sample appropriate? Do the data and themes generated provide significant and meaningful claims? To assist readers in answering these questions, we attended to these characterizing traits in numerous ways. For example, the topic of the research was considered timely and significant given recent and ongoing calls to bridge the knowledge-transfer gap (Evans & Brewer, 2022; Leggat, 2020). Coherence of the research was accounted for by critical friends’ discussions in the form of ongoing feedback from the research team (e.g., how do these themes answer/relate to the research question). The rigor of the research was attended to by selecting an information-rich sample, the use of maximum-variation sampling to enhance the study’s generalizability, and prolonged data collection (i.e., focus groups lasting 100–120 min) in line with narrative pedagogy guidelines (McMahon et al., 2022). Moreover, analytical rigor was developed using reflexive journalling (Finlay, 2002), and critical friends’ conversations to discuss multiple interpretations (Sparkes & Smith, 2014).

Findings

Communicating lived and diverse sports injury experiences

This theme relates to how the video narratives helped communicate research knowledge in a comprehensible manner by disseminating diverse and lived experiences of injury in a format that was accessible, multi-sensory, and easily identifiable. To begin, participants indicated how communicating athletes’ injury experiences as “typologies” (e.g., snowball, merry-go-round) created a conceptual understanding that enhanced the translation of this sport injury research. For example, participants reported how these injury typologies provided them with a “frame of reference” to help “make sense” of either their own and/or others’ injury experiences. This “frame of reference” relates to the overarching explanation or plot which helps connect injury experiences in a coherent and structured manner. As each event furnishes an understanding of why the next event might occur; this capacity of narratives renders them a suitable vehicle for a comprehensive understanding and articulation of injury experiences. The following physiotherapist depicted:

I just really liked the way you framed it, just that idea of moving from ‘what could be’, to ‘what should be’, and then looking back at ‘what could have been’, because you see that happen and when you are watching it you can understand why it happens … so yeah, pretty powerful in terms of just explaining that to people and the psychological impact it can have on athletes … It just makes it make sense.

Participants also indicated how drawing upon illustrative examples of athletes’ personal stories of injury to articulate these diverse typologies, and the use of “real-world language,” fashioned an accessible understanding of these experiences. The following sport psychologist reported:

It’s just real, and it resonates because that is what is actually said in sport. That badge of honor stuff is real-world language and some of the quotes in there are literally word for word what I hear coaches and athletes say. It’s also someone’s actual experience, which is really useful like, it’s not just some perception or theory. I think when we take it too far away from what is actually said in sport it gets trickier to understand

Moreover, some participants articulated how depicting certain injury typologies as analogies (i.e., merry-go-round, pendulum, snowball) combined with a visual and kinesthetic representation translated the concepts embedded within each narrative more powerfully. This was achieved by evoking both sensory and embodied reactions, opening alternative avenues for understanding and engaging with the material presented. One sport psychologist described:

I really liked the analogies and I think when you’re telling stories, using analogies is so important. That pendulum one, even when I was watching the pendulum swinging, my mind was just going, it just makes it easier to visualize and watching it I was thinking of how your energy might shift in both directions. So, it’s just a nice way to be able to hold conversations, like ‘when you see that, how does it feel and how does that impact you in terms of your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors around these different situations’. I just think it’s a really useful way to engage people and create conversations.

In addition to helping them conceptualize, visualize, and embody each injury experience in and of itself, organizing research knowledge into different typologies provided a heuristic guide for interpreting diverse injury experiences by making them distinguishable. The following sport psychologist reported: “It’s really helpful to have it explained as a term … because otherwise, it’s like ‘Oh I've heard that story, and then that other story, and then there’s my story’, but I don’t know how they all really relate.” Indeed, narratives help make the “blooming buzzing confusion of the world habitable by providing us with guidance systems to understand both our own and others” experiences (Frank, 2010, p. 48). These guidance systems help organize our lives into foregrounds and backgrounds of attention, by selecting what we pay attention to and how we evaluate what has been selected (Frank, 2010). By organizing sports injury experiences into typologies, it enabled the information to be pulled from the background to the fore by making it more intelligible, recognizable, and identifiable, as was typified in the following coach’s response:

The videos are great because they break it all down and show you that you could have multiple athletes in front of you and so many different narratives. So, it just makes it easier to identify these things. Because, if you don’t bring your awareness to this stuff, then it’s easy to bypass it as a coach or physio and ultimately, we are the people who can help the athletes. But realistically, unless you stumble upon those narratives yourself, you’re not going to recognize it as a thing or even come from that perspective.

Overall, this theme illustrates how the video narratives provided a comprehensible and accessible understanding of athlete’s injury experiences. By drawing upon personal stories, providing an overarching plot, and marrying this content with appropriate visual material, it acted as a resource to help interpret and understand each injury experience in and of itself whilst further conceptualizing the diverse ways that athletes may experience injury. Moreover, by enabling participants to identify the narratives that underpin athletes’ injury stories, it was indicated to potentially enhance their capacity to both work with and support injured athletes.

Meaningful connections

This theme relates to how the authenticity, relatability, and compelling nature of the video narratives helped communicate research knowledge in impactful ways by enabling participants to build meaningful connections with the information presented. As narratives aim to retain rather than wash out the messiness and complexities of human experiences (Smith & Sparkes, 2009), the capacity of the video narratives to articulate the nuances, tensions, and contradictions of injury, displayed in vibrant and visceral ways, was reported by several participants to lead to a construction of injury experiences that was authentic, relatable, and relevant. While some participants indicated that the authenticity of the videos could be improved upon by depicting stories of injury rather than narrative typologies, the verisimilitude of the typologies enabled participants to locate themselves or others within the storylines presented, which was a recurring theme throughout the focus groups. In some cases, this location enabled participants to form an interpersonal and embodied relationship with the material presented, by linking it to their own prior experiences (MacDougall, 2006). The following athlete depicted: “It was really well put together and it just felt really authentic. You can draw stuff from each one and I feel like we can all draw experiences from all of them because it does feel like those are actually real experiences. It just felt really relatable.”

Adding to the authenticity, tangibility, and resonance of the video narratives were the participant quotations interspersed throughout the videos with matching visual representations. Participants reported how the “tone of voice and expression” and “genuineness of the way they are talking about injury” made the injury experiences feel “real and relevant.” Participants reported how these characteristics helped shift the messaging from being abstract and conceptual to real and felt, as one sport psychologist reported, “The voices of the athletes were really the essential part because they turn it from dictating how you should feel, to this is how people actually feel.” The paradoxes embedded within each storyline were further reported by participants to provide a rich contextualization of the different injury experiences and enhance their engagement by encouraging them to think critically with the information presented. One nutritionist reported:

I really appreciated how you presented the pros and cons of each narrative, because, in the beginning, it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, this is the right narrative to have, and then it’s like, oh wait, you have to think about this part a bit more’. So, I think having both sides of the coin throughout the videos was really helpful because it gets the gears going like, ‘Okay, this might work in these ways, but what about these other aspects?’

Finally, the video narratives were deemed to be evocative. Participants across focus groups expressed a wide range of sentiments in response to the video narratives including, “my own feeling watching that was just sadness, that must be so awful”; “that narrative felt quite upbeat and positive”; and “that made me quite upset, which is why I had to step away.” The capacity of these video narratives to generate emotional impact is reflective of their ability to connect viewers. As Oatley (2002) explains, narratives tend to elicit emotions when we identify with and draw parallels to, the characters, plot, and content of stories. Eliciting emotions can mobilize viewers by promoting a deeper understanding and affinity with the content, in addition to empathizing with characters for whom they may have previously felt nothing for (Oatley, 2002). Moreover, by connecting athlete participants to these collective storylines, it was illustrated to act on their emotions by mitigating feelings of isolation and stigma associated with injury, as illustrated in the following athlete’s statement, “It made me feel less alone because there have been particular thoughts I’ve been having that I hadn’t realized like, ‘oh all these other athletes are thinking that same specific thought’, it’s not just me.” As Goodson and Gill (2011, p. 67) describe, by recognizing that the experiences we face are not entirely personal but part of a shared human experience, it can liberate individuals from the “prison of selfhood” by connecting them to broader meta-narratives and a wider understanding of being in the world.

Overall, adopting a theoretical narrative focus, we would argue that the capacity of these video narratives to build resonance with viewers, compel, evoke, and act on emotion, enabled participants to not just think about the stories presented but to think with them (Frank, 2013). Thinking about stories involves reducing their content and analyzing that content. Alternatively, thinking with stories involves joining with the story, adopting its logic and temporality, feeling its nuances and complexities, and experiencing it affecting one’s own life (Frank, 2013). Within the context of narrative translation, thinking with stories helps foster this emotional and embodied engagement and thus, awakens the recipient, connecting them to the material presented in powerful and meaningful ways.

Taking the information on board

This theme relates to participants’ ability to accept, absorb, and apply the information communicated within the videos to their own lives or practice, which was evidenced in multiple ways. First, throughout focus groups, participants recalled specific messages, quotations, or elements from each storyline which can be explained by the effects of stories on memory (Scott et al., 2012). Moreover, when stories are communicated through video the capacity to process information in an “automatic, relatively effortless way” (Scott et al., 2012, p. 162), is enhanced as videos provide touchpoints which allow viewers to connect the disseminated information to their own lived experiences (Mirkovski et al., 2019). Second, narratives can “ambush” people and encourage them to “take on board” new perspectives, that they may have never previously considered, thus expanding their narrative repertoire (Frank, 2010, p. 58). For example, the following athlete reported, “I think the longevity video was quite eye-opening, about how this injury now might prolong a future career in running. It’s just not something I ever thought about before, but watching that, it’s definitely opened my eyes to it.” As Frank depicts (2010, p. 31), through evocative and intimate portrayals, narratives can render alternative perspectives, not “only plausible but compelling.” Disseminating research findings visually is further reported to prompt viewers into accepting new information by disrupting their sensorium, that is, the sum of their perceptions (Howes, 1991). By orientating images, sounds, and movement differently from how viewers usually perceive the world, it can provoke audiences into seeing things in a new light, thus opening them up to new perceptions, as illustrated in the above participant’s statement (MacDougall, 2006).

Third, the applicability of the information presented was enhanced through the capacities of these videos to make the invisible seen. Firstly, by rendering abstract concepts more concrete through visual representation (Archibald et al., 2018). Secondly, by capturing and holding viewers’ imagination (Frank, 2010). These properties of imaginative opening and tangibility had important connotations in disseminating this sports injury research. For example, rather than informing participants on the dangers of risk-taking behaviors within sport, the snowball narrative which encapsulates the normalization of risk-taking and the physical and psychological decline it may incur, was reported to evoke participants’ imagination, enabling them to “get caught up” in the story. By “getting under their skin,” this storyline acted on participants leading them to consider a potential alteration of behaviors in the future (Frank, 2010, p. 48), which was typified in the following athlete’s response:

I think they were really good to help me see what I needed to see because I’m not back running yet, but my personality and my mindset are that I’ve missed all this time, so I need to rush back and catch up. But then, that snowball one, I could just imagine myself in it and could see myself getting caught in that cycle quite easily. So, that’s highlighted to me, that if I feel pain to just tell my coach, because I know I’m likely to push through, but hopefully by telling someone it will help create some accountability.

Finally, narratives’ shape-shifting capacities allow for multiple people to locate themselves in them, so they can fit multiple circumstances (Frank, 2010). It was this creative freedom afforded by the narratives presented which enabled participants to adapt the information within each storyline to fit their own cultural or contextual conditions. Therefore, rather than the information being disregarded as irrelevant, it could be constructed so that became fit for purpose, as was evidenced by the following sport psychologist’s response:

I think Sarah is right, the longevity narrative is a hard sell, especially now with a shorter Olympic cycle, because the narrative within our organization is that we don’t have time, and time out is expensive. But then, we could flip that longevity narrative on its head and be like, ‘We are worried about time out just like you are, so let’s take the time out strategically and build those elements of longevity into the program so we can stop them breaking down later’. I think that’d be good, I think that would work.

Indeed, the memorable, compelling, imaginative, and shape-shifting capacities of narratives provide a fruitful avenue for facilitating both the impact and uptake of sport injury research by ultimately enhancing end-users’ potential to “take” the information on board.

Knowledge dissemination

The video narratives were indicated as being an effective and impactful form of disseminating sport injury research by translating it into a format that is engaging, relevant, and easily disposable. To begin, participants illustrated how the videos contained the type of information they wanted to engage with, thereby enhancing the videos disseminating capabilities, as they were deemed relevant, timely, and meaningful. One athlete reported:

I just don’t think there is enough out there on this sort of stuff. When I had my stress fracture, I was just frantically searching online for someone who had experienced it, but apart from finding out that it takes six weeks to heal, there wasn’t really anything about anyone’s experiences, and it would have been so nice to hear from an actual athlete, rather than like the NHS. So, I think a lot of athletes would engage with this.

Accessibility to the diverse injury perspectives depicted within the videos was also reported to be the type of information that could help positively contribute to the online injury media landscape. Participants reported how these diverse injury perspectives would be readily accepted and broadcasted, as they would help dilute the pervasive presence of the dominant resilience narrative of injury, which is continually promoted and perpetuated via online messages that depict “the glorification of the grind,” even though, it is “not common in everyone’s story.” Second, disseminating sport injury information through the medium of video was reported to provide a viable platform for the research to remain relevant and current within this culturally mediated climate. One performance manager depicted:

I think the videos are brilliant, and with the influence now of social media, they are the way to go, because this is the feedback that we are getting from athletes all the time that we need to update our education to match the platforms that they’re using. So, those short-form videos are great because athletes tell us this is what they are engaging with. So, in terms of getting a message across, that could be really positive, and I just think they’re really nicely neatly packaged.

Certainly, disseminating research in a video format was reported by participants to create a critical opening to extend both the scope and reach of this sport injury research beyond nonacademic audiences (Scarnato, 2019). To this end, participants suggested disseminating the videos online via social media platforms or websites, to ensure that the findings are accessible and beneficial to not only athletes, service providers, and coaches but also non-sporting communities including athletes’ families and friends. However, some participants indicated that dispersing the videos online without creating the opportunity for dialogue, could limit their potential impact, as the following coach reported, “I think it’s really easy to just passively scroll on social media, and you might watch a video but not actually engage in what it’s telling you.” In line with this statement and to facilitate engagement, participants suggested dispersing the videos within pedagogical settings that encourage dialogue and reflection, for example, as part of practitioner, coach, or athlete education. The following lifestyle advisor reported: “I think the videos are a great tool, but I think it’s the reinforcing of it that helps, what we’re doing right now, the conversations we’re having, I think the two are important for connecting and properly engaging with them.” Indeed, like other narrative communication studies (e.g., Smith et al., 2015), it is the dialogical capacity of narratives that allows them to unlock their full potential. Therefore, in disseminating video narratives creating opportunities where they can be discussed, and perhaps continually discussed, is a pertinent consideration.

Overall conclusion

Heeding recommendations to bridge the knowledge-transfer gap within sport-injury psychology and answering calls to communicate research in more accessible ways (Leggat, 2020), this multi-study paper is the first to translate and disseminate an existing sport injury psychology evidence base (Everard et al., 2021) using a novel and timely ABKT tool (i.e., video narratives). Exploring end-users’ perspectives of the constructed video narratives, further generated insight into how and what properties of this ABKT tool could contribute toward facilitating both the impact and uptake of sport injury research. For example, participants revealed how the use of real-world language, lived experiences, participant voices, an over-arching plot, and authentic, emotive, and congruent visual material allowed the video narratives to communicate sport injury research in accessible, evocative, and relatable ways, engaging end-users by enabling them to both think with and take on board the material presented. By detailing the processes that led to the construction of the video narratives, we hope to have helped mitigate the ongoing obscurity surrounding the development of ABKT tools and thus provided an evidence-base and springboard for subsequent studies to explore the translation of research into accessible formats (Archibald et al., 2018). In line with the future proliferation of this ABKT tool, the video narratives demonstrated naturalistic generalizability (i.e., participants from multiple perspectives and roles reported resonating with the findings) and transferability (i.e., participants from other sports [boxing, golf, swimming] reported that the findings could be adopted to their discipline. That said, the video narratives were indicated to have limited transferability to team sports, which presents an avenue for future research.

In addition to enhancing the accessibility and availability of this sport-injury psychology research, the applied implications of these video narratives warrant consideration. Future research is needed to determine how exactly these video narratives could potentially transform end-users understanding of injury and thus inform future practice (Goodson & Gill, 2011). However, the current findings provide some tentative understandings of how the video narratives may act to support injured athletes. For example, the video narratives were illustrated to enhance end-users’ understandings of the types of narratives that may underpin athletes’ stories and elicit empathic responses toward injured athletes’ experiences. By fostering this awareness and empathetic resonance, it may enhance service providers and coaches’ ability to relate to and support injured athletes. The video narratives were also indicated to help mitigate feelings of isolation by connecting athletes to broader storylines of injury, incentivize a reduction in future risk-taking behaviors related to injury occurrence, and further “ambush” athletes into considering alternative perspectives of injury that promote their long-term well-being and longevity in sport. Given these potential functions of video narratives in supporting injured athletes and considering these videos are readily available (Bekker et al., 2017), it offers future scope for integrating these video narratives into practice, in line with participant suggestions, as part of athlete, coach, and practitioner educational workshops.

Building upon this idea, these videos could be used to facilitate storytelling workshops amongst elite injured athletes, by acting as templates for athletes to discuss their own injury stories, whilst expanding their opportunities for meaning-making by exposing them to alternative injury narratives (Williams, 2020). Meanwhile, practitioners could use these narratives as a tool to help reflect and problematize their current or past experiences of working with injured athletes, and critically discuss how best to support athletes in these experiences or how to be proactive in preventing such experiences from occurring in the future (e.g., snowball). The video narratives could further be used within sporting institutions to encourage practitioners and coaches to reflect upon the injury narratives (i.e., socio-cultural discourses) that they or the institution promote and consider the implications of such perspectives on injured athletes. Such discussions could help shift the focus away from locating the “problem” of injury within the injured athlete (Wadey & Day, 2022), by exclusively focusing on how they think, feel, behave around injury, and instead prompt a broader consideration of how the socio-cultural contexts create the conditions for athletes to think, feel, and behave around injury.

Against this backdrop, as the use and impact of digital technologies continue to grow and intensify, presenting research in digitized formats that is easily accessible to both athletes and sporting communities provides an invaluable opportunity to promote a more equitable and diverse sports injury landscape (Scarnato, 2019). To illustrate, previous research has highlighted the impact that the privileging of dominant injury discourses (i.e., injury as part and parcel of sport) can have on athletes when the media is concentrated in the hands of a few powerful actors (McGannon et al., 2022). As sport injury psychology researchers and practitioners, we are now presented with a critical opening to counter and dilute these messages through “ethically responsible media production practices that choose to represent subjugated knowledge, underprivileged voices, and the diversity of human experiences” (Scarnato, 2019, p. 394). To further amplify these multiple injury perspectives, especially both marginalized (e.g., merry-go-round) and alternative (e.g., longevity) injury narratives, future researchers and practitioners may look to draw upon stories, that is personal tales of athletes’ experiences, which are available within the digital landscape that exemplify these diverse narrative types. Indeed, as the “types in a typology of are of narratives and not people” (Frank, 2010, p. 119), storied accounts, available within the public domain, may enhance both the relatability and contemporary portrayal of these injury perspectives (e.g., McGannon et al., 2022). Overall, enhancing the accessibility and availability of sport-injury research and amplifying the many ways athletes experience injury, may help “prick” the wider consciousness and promote a broader duty of care to elite injured athletes.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers and associate editor for their thoughtful and insightful feedback on an earlier draft of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, therefore, supporting data is not available.