Injury Rehabilitation: A Goal-Setting Intervention Study

The study examined the effects of a 5-week goal-setting intervention on athletes' rehabilitation adherence, self-efficacy, treatment efficacy, and the psychological response variables: dispirited and reorganization. Participants were matched across six variables and randomly assigned to one of three groups: goal-setting intervention, social support control, and control. The results confirmed some of the hypothesized effects of the goal-setting intervention: (a) athlete self-report of adherence showed the goal-setting group adhered significantly more to the rehabilitation program than the other two groups; (b) the goal-setting intervention resulted in significant group differences for self-efficacy (the goal-setting group having the highest level of self-efficacy); and (c) there was a significant increase across time for reorganization and decrease across time for dispirited (between specific time phases).