Using psychological markers of sport injuries for navy diving training

Abstract

This study explored the feasibility of using psychological markers of injury risk, developed for elite athletes, in the context of navy diving training. It set two objectives: firstly, to explore the associations of pre-course psychological variables with injury during the course, and secondly, to explore the temporal association of weekly mood states with injuries. Trainee navy divers (N = 41) completed measures of trait anxiety, sensation seeking, and transient mood states prior to training, and also reported weekly mood states. No significant associations between pre-course mood states and injury were found. Higher pre-course trait anxiety and lower sensation-seeking scores were associated with injury (p  <  .05 for both, with moderate effect size), as was the combination of high sensation-seeking scores and high fatigue in the week preceding injury. Increased weekly scores (>1 SD from baseline) on Tension, Depression and Confusion scales were significantly associated with the occurrence of injury in the succeeding week, although the statistical results were modest. The use of psychological measures to predict injury risk appears to hold promise for navy diving training.

Keywords:

• diving training injuries
• mood states
• trait anxiety
• BRUMS
• STPI
• navy divers

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the two anonymous reviewers for their meaningful contribution to the development of the paper.

Notes

1. Mood with capital letters refers to mood state measures, rather than emotions.