TRANSLATION AND VALIDATION OF THE DUTCH INJURY PSYCHOLOGICAL READINESS TO RETURN TO SPORT SCALE (I-PRRS)

Background: In facilitating and predicting successful return to sport (RTS), not only are physical factors important, but also the athlete's psychological status. No questionnaire in the Dutch language exists for measuring psychological readiness for RTS after injuries in general.

Purpose: To translate and validate the Injury-Psychological Readiness to Return to Sport scale into the Dutch language.

Study Design: Cross-sectional, validation study.

Methods: One hundred and sixty-eight athletes, returning to high impact sports after lower extremity injuries, completed the Dutch I-PRRS twice. Another 162 athletes who visited their physical therapist for initial intake also completed the questionnaire. Floor and ceiling effects, internal consistency, reproducibility, construct validity, and divergent validity were analyzed.

Results: The I-PRRS was successfully translated into Dutch and showed no floor or ceiling effects. It had good internal consistency (0.85) and good test-retest reproducibility (ICC 0.74, 95% CI 0.43-0.86) where the lower bound of 95% CI indicates at least fair reproducibility. The SEM was 2.02 and the MDC 5.58 points. There was a significant fair correlation between total scores on the I-PRRS and TSK (rs = 0.41, p<0.001). Athletes who RTS and those who initially visited their physical therapist differed significantly on all items and on total scores (p<0.001).

Conclusions: The I-PRRS was successfully translated into Dutch and can be administered to athletes with lower extremity injuries who have clearance to RTS. The MDC of 5.58 on the total score indicated that with a score below six, there is no noticeable change outside the measurement error. For measuring and monitoring psychological readiness for RTS, the use of the Dutch I-PRRS is recommended for Dutch physical therapists.

Level of evidence: 3b.