The influence of injured athletes' perceptions of social support from ATCs on their beliefs about rehabilitation

Objective: To determine whether athletes ’ perceptions of social support from their certified athletic trainers (ATCs) were related to their beliefs about the rehabilita-tion process. Design: Division I athletes (N = 57) completed a survey including measures of social support and beliefs about rehabilitation. Participants: Division I college athletes (35 men, 22 women) who had sustained an injury that caused them to miss no less than 5 consecutive days. Measurements: The Social Sup-port Survey (SSS) and the Sports Injury Rehabilitation Beliefs Survey (SIRBS). Results: Results revealed significant correlations between the SSS and the SIRBS scales only for athletes who had sustained severe injuries. Multiple-regression analyses revealed that the SSS scales were significant predictors of each of the SIRBS scales. Conclusions: Results suggest that when severely injured athletes perceive that their ATCs provide strong social support, they are more likely to believe in their rehabilitation programs. Key Words: psychology of injury, psy-chology of rehabilitation Injuries are an inescapable misfortune in sports. On average, 17 million spor