Examining Collegiate Athletes’ Psychological Resilience to Their Rehabilitation Beliefs, Effectiveness and Adherence Processes

Abstract

Injury is a commonly experienced competitive stressor collegiate athletes encounter in their athletic careers. many athletes are able to overcome their injury by following a rehabilitation program prescribed to them by either their athletic trainer, doctor, or physical therapist, but the effectiveness of their rehab can be variable. Psychological resilience may be one factor that is positively associated with athletes’ optimal recovery from injury. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between collegiate athletes’ perceptions of their resilience after sustaining a significant injury to their rehabilitation beliefs, rehabilitation adherence, and rehabilitation effectiveness. Collegiate athletes (N= 63; 37 females & 24 males; Mage = 21 years) who had undergone an injury (in the previous two years) that prevented their participation in their sport for a minimum of three weeks completed the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC; 2003), the Sports Injury Rehabilitation Beliefs Survey (SIRBS; Taylor & May, 1996), the Rehabilitation Adherence Survey (Sanni & Fry, 2019), and the Rehabilitation Effectiveness Survey (Sanni & Fry, 2019). Bivariate correlations revealed a positive and significant relationship between resilience and athletes’ beliefs about their successful ability to rehab (treatment and self-efficacy, and susceptibility) as well as their perceptions of the overall effectiveness of their rehab programs. The findings highlight the key role that resilience may play in helping athletes maximize their recovery from injury.