Physiotherapists’ perceptions of sport psychology intervention in professional soccer

Abstract

This study investigated the attitudes and perceptions of physiotherapists working in professional soccer toward sport psychology intervention in injury rehabilitation. The Physiotherapist and Sport Psychology Questionnaire (Hemmings & Povey, 2002) was distributed to all professional soccer clubs in England and Wales. Thirty‐nine of the questionnaires were returned fully completed. In addition to this, 10 of the 39 respondents participated in semi‐structured interviews designed to further examine attitudes and perceptions in this area. It was found that the physiotherapists believed that negative psychological reactions to sports injury were fairly commonplace, with stress/anxiety being the most commonly cited reaction. Fifty‐one percent of the physiotherapists reported having referred an athlete to a sport psychologist. The stigma associated with consulting a psychologist was found to be a barrier to referral. It was suggested that more education as to the role of sport psychology in injury rehabilitation is required, along with the development of a sport psychology referral network

Key Words:

• professional soccer
• physiotherapy
• injury psychology