Keeping Your Head in the Game - Sport-Specific Imagery and Anxiety among Injured Athletes - Essay Example

Name: Tutor: Course: Institution: Date: Article Critique The following critique is about the journal article: Keeping Your Head in the Game: Sport-Specific Imagery and Anxiety among Injured Athletes. The article was written by Eva Monsma, PhD; James Mensch, PhD, ATC; and Jeniffer Farroll, MS, ATC and published by the National Athletic Trainers Association, Inc in the Journal of Athletic Training 2009, 44(4) p. 410- 417. The issue discussed here is the issue of sport-specific imagery and the issue of anxiety during rehabilitation. Using an observational design method, the authors’ purpose is to explore sport-specific imagery used during rehabilitation and examine characteristics of athletes and injury with regard to variations in imagery content as well as return-to-practice anxiety. Another purpose of the authors was to compare the frequency of imagery use early in injury rehabilitation with that just before return to practice and examine how image use and return-to-practice anxiety are related. This has been achieved using a Sport Imagery Questionnaire and a Sport Anxiety Scale as the main outcome measures. It was concluded that sport-specific image content in injured athletes is related to return-to-practice anxiety during rehabilitation. This finding made the authors conclude that it is the responsibility of practitioners to advise injured athletes to use sport-specific imagery especially that which is related to sport-skills and strategies. After thoroughly reading the article, it is worth noting that the title of the article, in reference to the content given, is appropriate and clear. While trying not to use many words in the title, the title was appropriate in bringing forth the suspense of how injured athletes can “keep their head in the game”, and clear by explaining that this can be achieved through two things: sport-specific imagery; and anxiety. The article’s abstract is specific and to the point. It is divided into eight sections: the context, objective, design, setting, the participants, the main outcome measures, results obtained and conclusions made. A list of key words is also provided. A brief introduction examines the relevance of the issues discussed in athletic training educational programs. It is also in the introduction that the authors explain the purpose of the article, explaining that sport-specific imagery for facilitating return to play is rarely examined in the context of rehabilitation. This idea was of major concern and the number reason to look for errors of fact and interpretation. The authors have cited a wide variety of references; these were examined in detail to determine errors, of which, it is worth noting, it was revealed that the authors have not misinterpreted or misrepresented any work. The relevance of ideas discussed is of great significance. The authors’ discussion is focused on only the aspects of imagery use and return-to-play anxiety. However, the relevance of some references was questionable. The authors should have used more pertinent references when discussing critical issues. Of concern was quoting the sentiments of the renowned Paivio’s taxonomy used to classify image content into cognitive as well as motivational functions in his work: Cognitive and Motivational functions of imagery in human performance (1985). It is worth noting that there are other more relevant and up to date taxonomies that have been developed to examine sport imagery. This is however not to discredit the innovative work of Paivio, which led to the development of, for example, the Sport Imagery questionnaire. However, it would have been more appropriate for the authors to focus on modern and relevant taxonomies that measure the use of imagery. Paivio’s reference, therefore, is considered inconsequential, and it is recommended that it should be deleted. Various ideas have discussed, some underemphasized while others have been overemphasized. The idea that sport specific imagery that focuses on maintaining sport skills as well as arousal levels among injured athletes has been purposely ignored is a good example of an idea that needs to be revised. This is because this idea has been underemphasized, considering the presence of numerous studies that have been carried out relating to imagery content associated with rehabilitation exercises. In addition, applied models of mental imagery are common, such as the model that was developed by Martin et al that expounds on the importance of using sport specific imagery during rehabilitation; the model stated that positive outcomes, for example confidence, can be achieved by applying sport specific imagery in rehabilitation setting. It is therefore recommended that the idea that sport specific imagery has been ignored be revised and expounded to establish the reasons why this idea could have been ignored, as the authors in these articles try to establish. Some ideas have been overemphasized as well. Top in this list is the idea that interventions that are focused upon reducing anxiety using imagery should be tailored by sex. Certainly, this ideas has been overemphasized, considering that the evidence the authors use to conclude this are some of the study’s findings, one of them being that men use more levels of cognitive imagery associated with skills (CS skills) as well as strategies (CS strategies). Another finding used to land to the conclusion was the finding that men have lower levels of worry and concentration disruption compared to women. These studies cannot be conclusive enough to establish that sex should tailor the interventions geared at reducing anxiety using imagery. This is because these studies have significant errors; the second study, for example, had small effect sizes. This ideology should, therefore, be revised and more work and research carried out to test how effective interventions by sex can be. The manuscript is of the appropriate size, since all important information has been presented in an appropriate structure. However, there are some sections that should be condensed. One of these is the discussion section that presents factors related to the use of imagery and anxiety. This section should be condensed, since the authors have provided more information than is necessary when talking about the use of cs-skills and cs-strategies by men in comparison with women. Other than this section, however, the other sections are appropriate. The clarity of the statements made by the authors in the report was carefully examined to establish if there were ambiguous statements. At the beginning of the report, the statement: “although studies of imagery content related to rehabilitation exercises and healing are quite common” has a significant level of ambiguity. The use of the term “quite” in the statement is ambiguous, as the statement does not clarify how common the studies are or are not. It is worth noting that the statement has not been referenced, which suggests that it is an opinion made by an author on the commonality of studies of imagery content related to rehabilitation exercises and healing. It is also ambiguous for the authors to write that: “however, sport specific imagery content prescriptions or what to image for facilitating return to play is rarely described in any rehabilitation context”. The term “rarely” makes the statement to lack clarity; rarely could mean once or twice, as the authors want us to believe. On the other hand, rarely could mean five times or even ten times. Clarity, in the context of the two examples given above, can be achieved by avoiding the use of words such as ‘quite’ and ‘rarely’ when making statements that are critical for the report. Instead, the authors would have provided figures and made clear statements that explain, for example, the commonality in the former statement. The statement that rehabilitation exercises and healing are quite common can be followed by statistics that proof that indeed, these exercises and healing are common. The same goes for the second statement about the description of sport specific imagery. Instead of writing that sport specific imagery is rarely described the authors should have used statistics to explain what they mean by “rarely”. The two cases of ambiguity aside, the author has been objective when discussing the topic. The report’s main statement is that sport-specific imagery and anxiety are effective for the rehabilitation of injured athletes. This is an arguable statement on the subject of rehabilitation, and one would choose to argue that they are not effective. The thesis of this report, therefore, is debatable, which is a good element of objectivity. Another reason the authors have been objective in this article is because they have researched every statement made and all topic sentences to obtain credible and authoritative sources that support every idea argued. Using this information, the authors have supplied the statements made in each body paragraph and have relied in ideas and models developed by experts, study findings as well as verifiable statistics. To further verify objectivity, the use of first person writing was determined, it is worth noting that there was no first person writings in the report, generalizations as well as assumptions. The ideas developed in the essay were verified and the sources used researched to determine their authenticity. An additional element that characterizes objective writing in this article was the unbiased presentation of ideas and facts. Although the information presented reveals passion from the authors, there are no personal points of view or statements that show emotion. The authors have instead provided a balanced point of view with regard to the effectiveness of imagery and anxiety. The objective of the study is of critical importance to the field of rehabilitation of athletes. Sport-specific imagery and anxiety issues are very important for the mental preparation of athletes. An athlete should not only be prepared physically to return to the pitch, mental preparation is also very important. If an athlete is not prepared mentally to return to the pitch, this can result to decreased confidence, resulting to a decline in performance. Cases of re-injury or additional injury have also been reported for athletes that are reported to be ready physically by their team physician but not mentally ready to return. This could also lead to fear of injury or feelings of stress because of lack of confidence. Guided imagery and related techniques, for example hypnosis, not only improve the performance of athletes during competition, but researchers have established that it is possible to speed up the healing process by maintaining a positive mindset and using specific mental skills and techniques. The incorporation of mental training skills in a rehabilitation training program is therefore a very important consideration that team physicians should consider. An adequate description of the experimental methods used has been provided. For example, a good description of the Sport Imagery Questionnaire has been given, together with all of its subscales: the sport skills scale; the strategies and tactics scale; the goal related outcomes scale; the arousal scale; and the mastery scale. The Sport Anxiety Scale was also adequately described, together with the 4-point Likert scale used to determine reactions to competition. A review of the experimental methods used shows that they are appropriate for the purposes of this study. The Sport Imagery Questionnaire, for example, is effectively modeled for the study and played a critical role in obtaining the findings. It is worth noting that the questionnaire is used to determine the frequency of using images replicated in the Paivio cognitive and motivational functions of imagery. Each of the subscales mentioned helps achieve the objective of the study; they helped analyze and establish the relationship between injury-related variables such as days in rehabilitation, experience, the efficacy of adherence and previous ability efficacy. Conclusion This critical analysis has explored various elements used in Monsma et al’s (2009) article. A number of issues have been discussed, including the relevance of the ideas, the clarity of statements made, the objectivity, the size and appropriateness of the manuscript as well as the appropriateness of the experimental methods used. Cases of ambiguity have been established, as the authors were vague and did not use appropriate statistics to proof the commonality of sport specific imagery studies. Nonetheless, the information was presented in a non-objective and professional way using authoritative and relevant sources. Works Cited Monsma, Eva., James Mensch. and Jeniffer Farroll, Keeping Your Head in the Game: Sport- Specific Imagery and Anxiety among Injured Athletes, The National Athletic Trainers Association, Inc in the Journal of Athletic Training 2009, 44(4) p. 410- 417 Read More