Background: Pain is a common problem in elite athletes. This exploratory study compares goal orientations towards sport, fear of failure, self-handicapping and pain catastrophizing between active young elite athletes with and without chronic pain (CP) complaints (longer than three months). It examines the associations between chronic pain, fear of failure, goal orientations, self-handicapping and pain catastrophizing in young elite athletes. We explore how far goal orientation can be explained by these factors. Methods: Young elite athletes completed an online questionnaire. Data analysis: Independent samples t-test, correlational analyses and multivariate regression analyses. Results: Participants were 132 young elite athletes (mean 16 years); data for 126 were analyzed. A total of 47% reported current pain, of which 60% had CP. Adolescents with CP showed significantly more pain intensity, fear of failure, self-handicapping and mastery–avoidance goals than those without. Pain intensity was significantly related to fear of failure, self-handicapping, pain catastrophizing and mastery–avoidance. Self-handicapping and fear of failure contributed significantly to mastery–avoidance variance. Performance–avoidance and –approach goals were explained by fear of failure. Conclusion: CP was common, with sufferers showing more fear of failure and self-handicapping strategies, and being motivated to avoid performing worse (mastery–avoidance). Self-handicapping and fear of failure influenced mastery–avoidance orientation, and fear of failure explained part of performance–avoidance and –approach orientations. Longitudinal studies should explore the role of these factors in the trajectory of CP in these athletes.
From young elite athlete to chronic pain patient. A reflection on working with students as a researcher A qualitative study on the (psychological) characteristics of young, former elite athletes with chronic, non-specific pain complaints was initiated to answer the following questions: (1) Which factors could play a role in the development of chronic, non-specific pain in young, former elite athletes? And (2) How can we optimize treatment for young, former elite athletes with chronic, non-specific pain? A master student in Mental Health first interviewed six young former elite athletes with non-specific pain complaints who were receiving treatment in the rehabilitation clinic. The student analyzed the data. As data analysis based on six interviews is rather limited and the findings did not lead to unambiguous conclusions, several parts of the interview were re-coded by researcher 1, leading to different conclusions. We then decided to re-code all interviews in a new project by researcher 1, have researcher 2 double code several interviews and recruit at least six more participants to expand the qualitative sample. Reflecting on working with students in our qualitative study, we found another researcher coding the interview data to be important as it minimizes interpretation bias and allows for a check of the thoroughness of the interview content. Secondly, master students writing their thesis have limited time for these projects, which may lead to a small number of participants in the study. This holds especially when recruiting from a patient population, as availability depends on the number of suitable patients during this period of time.
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