A call for more psychological skills training: examining the views of qualified and student sports therapists in the United Kingdom

Context: Sports therapists can influence an athlete’s psychological response to injury. At present it is unclear whether sports therapists are sufficiency trained in psychology. Objectives: To understand the views both of practising clinicians and students regarding the extent to which sports therapy education addresses psychological factors in injury management. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Online Questionnaire. Participants: Qualified sports therapists (n = 30) and sports therapy students, (n = 33). Interventions: Sports Therapist and Sport Psychology Questionnaire. Main Outcome Measures: The questionnaire included five subsets of questions (5-point Likert scale or multiple-choice). Internal consistency of each subset was rated via Cronbach’s alpha (α, 95% confidence interval) as good (questions 5 & 6; α 0.81, 0.68 to 0.88) or as excellent (scale questions 3-4; α 0.91, 0.85-0.95, question 8, α 0.97, 9.6 to 9.8, questions 7, 11 & 12; α 0.94, 0.91 – 0.96; and questions 9 & 10, α 0.96, 9.4 - 9.8). Results: Both groups recognised psychological components as either ‘important’ or ‘very important’ in rehabilitation. They reported a need for psychological skills in injury management, and more psychology training during education. While 80% of qualified therapists identified a duty to treat psychological components, only 45% of students concurred. Conclusions: Future sports therapy education should consider placing greater emphasis on the psychological components of injury management in order to sufficiently equip therapists with appropriate skills for practice.