A collective case study of athletic identity and successful injury rehabilitation

Abstract

A severe injury is an identity threatening situation for competitive athletes. Previous literature suggests that having a strong athletic identity can be beneficial for the athlete when injured. To the date there has been little research on how athletic identity is managed during that challenging time of injury. The purpose of this study was to explore how athletic identity is managed during the injury and rehabilitation phase before returning to competitive sport. Knowing the determinants of athletic identity management allows practitioners to adjust their interventions toward specific issues when working with injured athletes.

The present study is a qualitative, collective case study. Hermeneutic phenomenological research approach was used to explore the narrative identities of the participants, who were selected with criterion sampling. The data was generated in semi-structured interviews with four Finnish national or international level athletes, who faced an injury and returned to their sport successfully. The data was analyzed abductively using thematic analysis. Quality of data and analysis was enhanced by selecting varied cases and concentrating the analysis on rich narratives.

The findings of the present study suggest that athletic identity determinants throughout the injury phase include the internal will to do sports; maintenance of athletic life style; goal-setting; staying involved with team; social support from team, other injured athletes and staff and positive contact with media or audience. The findings mirror those of the previous literature.

It can be concluded that even if the injury does not change the perception of the strength of the participants’ athletic identity, it does affect the role of the determinants behind it. Athletic identity is regenerated through various ways. Social support from the sport organization and staff seems to be an important factor in maintain athletic self when facing an injury and should therefore be provided. Strong intrinsic motivation to do sports, acknowledging that injuries are part of sport, and staying on athletic life rhythm also help athletes to maintain their athletic identity. The present study raises the possibility that maintaining strong athletic identity does not exclude positive outcome in regards of other identities.