A qualitative analysis of perceived factors associated with psychological readiness to return to dance following injury / Rebecca Appleton (2017)

Psychological readiness to return after injury, has not yet been researched within dance, and limited literature surrounds the psychological impact that injuries have on dancers. This study is an inquiry into dancer’s perceptions surrounding factors associated with psychological readiness, in order to establish how to aid a successful return to dance following injury.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants, all of whom were either at undergraduate or postgraduate level, and had university or vocational dance training. An interview guide was used and all transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings suggest that psychological readiness is heavily linked to psychosocial factors and a balance attributed to five main themes; pressure to return, obtaining a diagnosis, the rehabilitation process, social support and negative emotions. Other considerations include, the development and maintenance of realistic expectations, the demands of dancers being understood by medical practitioners and being recognised as athletes, perceived injury severity and the employment of attendance strategies throughout the rehabilitation process, were also associated.

Confidence and motivation, in support of previous research, (Podlog, Banham, Wadey & Hannon, 2015) were factors shown to be important implications of the themes established in this study. From initial low levels they increased through successful diagnosis and rehabilitation, to higher levels close to the return, which fits in with trends in the literature (Glazer, 2009). Importantly, the themes from this study allowed confidence and motivation to be developed and therefore arguably it is these themes, that should be explored further through future research. Therefore, potentially being able to measure psychological readiness could allow for considering those that might successfully return or struggle to return to dance following injury, which would be greatly beneficial.