Development of the Social Support Questionnaire for Injured Athletes (The SSQIA)

Abstract

The aim of the current study was to develop a questionnaire to measure social support in the context of sport injury throughout two studies. In Study 1, 105 athletes who have an experience of sport injury completed an open-ended format of the questionnaire regarding social support in sport injury context and gathered data was categorised to identify social support for injured athletes. In Study 2, four hundred and thirty-six university student-athletes completed the preliminary version of the Social Support Questionnaire for Injured Athletes (The SSQIA) and other measures. The results indicated that social support for injured is recovery assistance support, understanding and respect support, empathy and acceptance support, and sense of belonging support. The SSQIA was identified to be a valid and reliable measurement with four-dimensions to examine social support for injured athletes in the current study.