Athletic trainer strategies for nurturing athletes’ basic psychological needs during sport injury rehabilitation

Publication Date

1-1-2025

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of American College Health

DOI

10.1080/07448481.2025.2484551

Abstract

Objective: To qualitatively explore athletic trainers’ (ATs’) perceptions of how they support injured college athletes’ basic psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Participants and methods: Thirteen U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association ATs completed semi-structured interviews. Four researchers conducted a deductive thematic analysis. Techniques (audit trail, bracketing of biases, and member checking) were utilized to enhance the study’s rigor. Results: Three themes with eight sub-themes representing need-supporting strategies were constructed: (a) ATs attempted to foster injured athletes’ perceived relatedness by cultivating trusting connections; (b) ATs attempted to foster injured athletes’ perceived competence by engendering mastery during rehabilitation; and (c) ATs attempted to foster injured athletes’ perceived autonomy by promoting ownership of their rehabilitation. Conclusions: Multiple strategies described by ATs were aligned with need-satisfying approaches discussed by athletes in previous research. The present study offers rich descriptions of techniques for facilitating optimal motivation in injured college athletes for ATs to consider.

Keywords

Athlete-athletic trainer relationship, college athletes, motivation, self-determination theory, sports medicine

Department

Kinesiology

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