The results support the model's suggestion that psychosocial variables, as well as psychologically, based interventions, can influence injury risk among athletes.

Previous researches have established models that specify psychological factors that could predict sport injuries. One example is Williams and Andersen's stress-injury model stressing factors such as anxiety, negative life stress and few coping resources. The purpose of the current study was to find psychological factors that could lead to an increased injury risk among junior soccer players, in addition to construct an empirical model of injury risk factors for soccer players. The participants were 108 male and female soccer players (m=17, 6) studying at soccer high schools in southwest Sweden. Five questionnaires were used, State Trait Anxiety Inventory, Sport Anxiety Scale, Life Events Survey for Collegiate Athletes, Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28 and Swedish universities Scales of Personality. Injury record was collected by athletic trainers at the schools during a period of 8 months. The result suggested four significant predictors that together could explain 23% of injury occurrence. The main factors are life event stress, somatic trait anxiety, mistrust and ineffective coping. These findings partly support Williams and Andersen's stress-injury model and are organized into an empirical model. Recommendations are given to sport medicine teams and coaches concerning issues in sport injury prevention.

The findings highlight the need for athletes, coaches, and medical practitioners to attempt to reduce state-level stressors, especially daily hassles, in minimizing injury risk. Educating and training athletes and coaches in proactive stress-management techniques appears warranted.

No abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of a prevention intervention program to lower the incidence of injury for soccer players with at-risk psychosocial profiles. The Sport Anxiety Scale, the Life Event Scale for Collegiate Athletes, and the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28 were used to screen for psychosocial risk factors outlined in the stress and injury model (Williams & Andersen, 1998). Thirty-two high injury-risk players were identified and randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Injuries of participants were reported by their coaches. The intervention program consisted of training in 6 mental skills distributed in 6 to 8 sessions during 19 weeks of the competitive season. The results showed that the brief intervention prevention program significantly lowered the number of injuries in the treatment group compared with the control group.