499 MEP107 – An interpretive investigation into coaches’ real-world experiences of adopting, implementing and maintaining a youth injury prevention programme

AbstractBackground Injury prevention research has often failed to account for the ecological nature of sports injury prevention interventions1 and there remains limited understanding of the processes behind sports coaches' engagement with injury prevention programmes. Objective To explore the barriers and facilitators to adoption, implementation, and maintenance of an injury prevention programme, through the coaches' voice.Design Under the interpretivist paradigm, mixed-method qualitative approaches were used to collect data at three points. Data were analysed using inductive and deductive approaches and coded to find higher and lower-order themes. The RE-AIM framework was used to organise the higher-order themes.Setting Youth County cricket coaches attending a coach education development workshop.Participants Three focus groups (n = 19) immediately after the workshops and two follow up interviews 10–12 weeks after the workshops.Intervention All coaches participated in a 2hr bespoke youth injury prevention workshop titled Reducing Injury in Sport with Kids (RISK).Results At the individual level the influence of biography and professional context on coaches' perceptions towards RISK was prevalent. Coaches identified a lack of resources, time and management buy in as key barriers to implementing RISK, however these were not necessarily present in the follow up interviews suggesting a mismatch between perceptions and actual practice. Key facilitators identified were additional workshop resources and external support, which were corroborated in the follow up interviews.Conclusion This study evidenced the complex processes behind coach engagement with an injury prevention programme and demonstrated how coach learning theory can complement sports injury prevention research. To maximise adoption and implementation the following is proposed: i) coaches may cherry pick aspects of a programme to fit with their practice; ii) help coaches understands their role; iii) accept that coaches from different contexts will adopt, implement, and maintain programmes in different ways and at different rates.