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Making Football Safer for Women: Implementing an Injury Prevention Program

RECRUITING

The aim of this study is to determine how we can best support coaches to implement an injury prevention (IP) program (Prep-to-Play) in female community Australian Football. We will recruit at least 140 female community football teams from 15 different football leagues in Victoria, Australia. Teams will be competing in U16, U17, U18, U19 or open womens competitions.

We will train and support coaches to implement the IP program and evaluate the effects of the IP program on injuries across two football seasons.

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Study details:

Primary Aim: To compare the impact of supported and unsupported implementation strategies on the use of an IP program (Prep-to-Play) in female community Australian Football. Secondary aims are to:. 1.

Evaluate the effects of supported implementation of Prep-to-Play on injury risk reduction. 2. Identify barriers and enablers to sustainability of the Prep-to-Play implementation model, and develop clear recommendations for a future, sustainable national roll out of Prep-to-Play.

3. Evaluate the cost-effectiveness of Prep-to-Play. Primary hypothesis.

The primary hypothesis is that supported implementation will result in increased use of Prep-to-Play in female community Australian Football compared to unsupported implementation. Secondary hypotheses. The secondary hypotheses are that the supported implementation of Prep-to-Play will:.

* result in a reduction of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in females participating in community Australian Football;. * result in a reduction of other musculoskeletal injuries and concussion among females participating in community Australian Football;. * be more cost-effective than the unsupported implementation.

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Eligibility criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. See if you qualify.

Inclusion criteria

  • Coach consents to be trained and to implement Prep-to-Play
  • Team includes players aged 13 years and above registered to play community football
  • The team trains at least once per week in addition to match-play
  • Coach has at least Level I coach accreditation (or enrolled to be accredited in 2021)
  • Exclusion criteria

  • Inability to understand written English
  • Players aged less than 13 years
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    Eligibility

    Age eligible for study : 14 and older

    Healthy volunteers accepted : Yes

    Gender eligible for study: Female

    Things to know

    Study dates

    Study start: 2021-04-22

    Primary completion: 2025-04-13

    Study completion finish: 2025-12-21

    study type

    Study type

    PREVENTION

    phase

    Phase

      NA

    trial

    Trial ID

    NCT04856241

    Intervention or treatment

    OTHER: Coaching

    OTHER: Peer support

    OTHER: Educational materials

    Conditions

    • Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries
    • Concussion, Brain
    • Musculoskeletal Injury
    Image related to Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries
    • Condition: Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries, Concussion, Brain and more

    • OTHER: Coaching and other drugs

    • Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    • Sponsor: La Trobe University

    Find a site

    Closest Location:

    Community Australian Football Leagues

    Research sites nearby

    Select from list below to view details:

    • Community Australian Football Leagues

      Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

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    Study Plan

    This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

    How is the study designed?

    Participant Group/ArmIntervention/Treatment
    EXPERIMENTAL: Supported Implementation (Intervention)
    • Our supported implementation approach is designed to improve uptake of Prep-to-Play. The Prep-to-Play program consists of four components: dynamic warm-up, strength training, football fundamentals, and education. At the start of the intervention period, Prep-to-Play Physiotherapists will conduct a 3-hour workshop for coaches and influential players. Ongoing support will be provided via a range of strategies. Prep-to-Play Physiotherapists will attend training (two times) during and immediately post implementation to provide coaches with support (feedback on missing components, player technique, questions). Monthly Coaches Shed; Online drop-in session with education component to meet other coaches (peer support \& networking) and ask questions. Refresher workshops will be run in pre-season 2022 for the teams who have received the intervention in 2021.
    OTHER: Coaching
    • Physiotherapists (trained by the research team) train the coaches to deliver Prep-to-Play. The Physiotherapists will also provide face-to-face one-to-one support to each coach at their team's training session (two visits), with all their players.
    ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: Unsupported implementation (Control)
    • The unsupported implementation arm will be "usual care". Access to the Prep-to-Play resources, including videos, downloadable manuals and posters, are freely available to coaches online. The online resources incorporate the same four concepts as described in the supported implementation - dynamic warm-up, strength exercises, football fundamentals, and education. In the control arm, no additional resources, education, or support will be provided.
    OTHER: Educational materials
    • Prep-to-Play program resources are available online for coaches and players to view

    What is the study measuring?

    Primary outcome

    Primary Outcome MeasurePrimary Outcome DescriptionPrimary Outcome Time Frame
    Use of Prep-to-Play (Primary outcome)Use of Prep-to-Play will be calculated as the proportion of all possible team sessions (training and games) where Prep-to-Play essential components were completed. The primary outcome assessor will be the Team Designate (i.e., nominated team manager, or team representative) who will record (via the Smartabase App or website) whether essential components of Prep-to-Play were completed at each training session and games. In addition to the Team Designate, Prep-to-Play Observers (research assistants blinded to randomisation) will make five random visits (≥one prior to the intervention period and ≥two after the intervention period) to observe the execution of Prep-to-Play in order to validate team use data from the Team Designates.18 months

    Secondary outcome

    Secondary Outcome MeasureSecondary Outcome DescriptionSecondary Outcome Time Frame
    Number of players with an ACL injury (Secondary outcome)The primary injuries of interest are ACL injuries and concussion. An ACL/all other injuries will be defined as any injury occurring during a football match or training that results in a player being unable to return to the field of play for that match, or missing at least one match. ACL injury definition • Ruptured ACL is confirmed by clinical examination, with or without magnetic resonance imaging or surgery. Injury data will be collected via two methods to minimise missing data: (i) sports trainer; (ii) direct from player18 months
    Number of players with a concussion (Secondary outcome)A head injury will be defined as any injury to the head region occurring during a football match or training, regardless of time loss. Concussion definition • Direct or indirect impact to the head resulting in loss of consciousness and/or any of the following clinical symptoms (memory loss, headache, dizziness, nausea, difficulty concentrating, feeling like being in a fog, feeling not quite right). Injury data will be collected via two methods to minimise missing data: (i) sports trainer; (ii) direct from player18 months
    Number of player hours (training and match)The number of training and match hours for each team will be collected, and reported at a team-level. Weekly team match exposure will be estimated from the number of matches played, multiplied by the number of players in each match (publicly available registry), and the match length (junior: 1 hour, senior: 1.5 hours). Weekly team training exposure will be estimated using the number and duration of football training sessions completed (reported by team designates), multiplied by the average number of players at training (reported by independent observers on five occasions).18 months
    Healthcare utilisationHealthcare use for players sustaining a knee or head injury will be obtained by the blinded research officer to estimate healthcare costs of sustaining an injury to inform health economic evaluation.18 months

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    References

    Clinical Trials Gov: Making Football Safer for Women: Implementing an Injury Prevention Program

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