QRSMed: Qualitative Research in Sports Medicine

PROJECT PARTNERS

  • University of Tubingen

  • University of Bath

  • University of Zurich

  • Aspetar

  • Linkoping University

FUNDING

  • None

BACKGROUND

Over the past decades research within the field of sports medicine has yielded a large amount of evidence of the prevention and treatment of athletic injuries. Despite the availability of high quality evidence, compliance to interventions that protect athletes’ health is low. Consequently, evidence-based programs are not achieving their optimal effect in real-life athletic situations. Implementation and knowledge translation are the contemporary incantations to resolve this apparent gap between science and practice. This has provided us novel research questions and challenges that follow on efficacious outcomes. Most of these questions are not answered through quantifiable outcomes measures as they revolve around user behaviors. If we want to know why athletes and coaches behave as they do, and what barriers there may be to changing their behavior, qualitative research can be used to give athletes and coaches a voice.

OBJECTIVES

Within the QRSMed initiative we aim to bring together sports medicine researchers with an expertise in qualitative research. The goal is to develop and implement qualitative research methods within sports medicine research.