Dissemination and implementation of injury prevention interventions: A scoping review for the Female, woman and/or girl Athlete Injury pRevention (FAIR) consensus

Abstract

Objective To synthesise evidence related to the dissemination and implementation (D&I) of injury prevention interventions for female, woman and/or girl (female/woman/girl) athletes. Design Scoping review. Data sources MEDLINE, APA PsycInfo, Cochrane Databases for Systematic Review, Cochrane Central Register for Controlled Trials Registry, EMBASE, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, ERIC, ProQuest Dissertation and Theses Global. Eligibility Primary research including ≥25% female/woman/girl athletes of any age or people working with them (eg, coaches), participating in sports competition and/or performance, were eligible. Papers reporting D&I outcomes (eg, coach knowledge, adoption and maintenance) related to an injury prevention intervention and/or a factor (eg, coach beliefs) associated with D&I outcomes were included. Results 220 papers with 419 494 participants (96 790 athletes (49% female/woman/girl), 277 923 coaches (59% working with females/women/girls) and 44 781 others) across 81 sports were included. 89% of the papers were from Europe, Oceania and North America. Papers included amateur (n=175), sub-elite (n=10), elite (n=63) and Para sport (n=2) athletes. Interventions were training strategies (n=113), personal protective equipment (PPE, n=41), policy/rules/laws (n=5) or other (n=61, eg, multimodal). There were >650 D&I outcomes; adoption was the most common, followed by athlete and coach perceptions and attitudes about injury prevention. Key facilitators of D&I were previous injury experience, higher competition levels and positive perceptions and attitudes. Conclusion Most studies on D&I of injury prevention interventions for female/woman/girl athletes were descriptive and related to athletes and coaches. Engaging people across the socio-ecological system (eg, parents, health professionals and administrators) and prioritising under-represented regions, populations and D&I-focused trials may enhance D&I outcomes and ultimately reduce injury risk in female/woman/girl athletes.