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Coaches' perspectives on implementing an evidence-informed injury prevention programme in junior community netball
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  1. N Saunders,
  2. L Otago,
  3. M Romiti,
  4. A Donaldson,
  5. P White,
  6. CF Finch
  1. School of Human Movement and Sport Sciences, University of Ballarat, Ballarat, Australia
  1. Correspondence to Dr Natalie Saunders, School of Human Movement and Sport Sciences, University of Ballarat, PO Box 663, Ballarat 3350 Australia; n.saunders{at}ballarat.edu.au.

Abstract

Objective For effective sports injury prevention, information is needed about the implementation context for interventions. This study describes coaches' feedback on the implementation of an evidence-informed injury prevention programme in community junior netball using coaches' perceptions and the RE–AIM framework.

Methods A lower-limb injury prevention programme (Down to Earth; D2E), for teaching safe-landing techniques, was delivered to 31 coaches from 31 junior community netball teams in a 1-h workshop. Coaches then delivered a 6-week programme at team training sessions starting in the week before the competition season commenced. 65% of coaches completed a feedback survey 17 weeks after they had delivered the programme.

Results Most (88%) coaches believed that D2E improved their players' ability to perform correct landing techniques in games and that players had retained these improvements over the season. The majority (83%) indicated that an improvement in player athletic attributes was the greatest advantage of D2E, followed by a reduction in injury risk. Identified barriers to implementing D2E were running out of time and very young players finding the drills too difficult. Coaches reported that they needed more ideas for training drills that could be incorporated into their programmes and believed that their own coaching training did not adequately prepare them to implement an injury prevention programme.

Conclusions Although coaches believed that D2E was effective in developing correct landing techniques, some modifications are needed to make it more suitable for younger players and coach education by accreditation courses could be improved to support the implementation of injury prevention programmes.

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Footnotes

  • Funding This study was funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, Sport and Recreation Victoria. Caroline Finch was supported by an NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship.

  • Competing interests None.

  • Ethics approval This study was conducted with the approval of the University of Ballarat Human Research Ethics Committee.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.