An intervention based on the health belief model led to improvements in self-efficacy towards ERIPP participation and functional performance in club sport athletes: a pilot study

Objectives: To determine if an intervention based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) could improve attitudes towards exercise-related injury prevention program (ERIPP) participation and functional performance in club sport participants. Design: Repeated measures Methods: Participants completed the HBM Scale (HBMS) and Theory of Planned Behavior Scale (TPBS) to assess attitudes towards ERIPP participation at three time points (pre-measure, post-measure, follow-up measure). The HBM based intervention was delivered immediately following the pre-measure containing: 1) education on ERIPPs, benefits and barriers to participating, strategies to overcome barriers, risk factors and consequences for lower extremity injuries, and strategies to prevent lower extremity injuries 2) individualized feedback on functional performance 3) demonstration and participation in the 11 +. Attitudes towards injury prevention were compared using the subscales of the HBMS and TPBS at all three time points. Functional performance was compared at the pre-measure and follow-up measure. Results: Significant improvements with large effect sizes were detected in individual self-efficacy from pre-test (0.73 ± 4.48) to post-test (2.93 ± 4.30; P = 0.05; ƞ2 = 0.18) and pre-test to follow-up (3.20 ± 3.49; P = 0.04; ƞ2 = 0.20) and community led self-efficacy from pre-test (4.40 ± 2.75) to post-test (6.07 ± 3.43; P = 0.02; ƞ2 = 0.24) and pre-test to follow-up (7.07 ± 2.05; P = 0.001; ƞ2 = 0.44). Additionally, significant improvements were found in the LESS-RT following the intervention. Conclusions: The intervention based on the HBM led to improvements in individual and community led self-efficacy indicating an enhancement in the participants’ confidence in their ability to participate in an ERIPP. Future research should investigate the effectiveness of individualized interventions to improve attitudes towards and adherence to ERIPPs.