Abstract
Objective: Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2002), the main aim of this study was to evaluate a modified version of the Treatment Self-Regulation Questionnaire (m-TSRQ; Levesque et al., 2007) for assessing motives held by athletes for entry into rehabilitation following a sport injury.
Methods: Using an experimental (post-test only) design, participants (N = 94) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions that used a series of unique, hypothetical vignettes as the independent variable. The vignettes differed in terms of the intrinsic/extrinsic approach to entering athletic therapy following an injury to the anterior cruciate ligament adopted by an athlete. Participants completed the m-TSRQ after reading the vignette.
Results: Item-level analyses yielded evidence of potential floor/ceiling effects exhibited by 4 (26.67%) of the m-TSRQ items. Score reliability estimates were heterogenous within the sample per experimental condition (M? = 0.64; SD? = 0.20; Range = 0.12 to 0.88). Almost one-fifth (18.74%) of the reliability estimates were below 0.50 whereas only 31.25% of the reliability coefficient exceeded 0.80 in this sample. Multivariate differences were evident across groups (Wilk's Lambda = 0.21, F(12, 233) = 15.52, p < .01, partial eta-squared = 0.41) with between-groups effects indicating that the m-TSRQ subscales were responsive to the experimental stimulus deployed in the hypothesized directions.
Discussion: Modifying the m-TSRQ may be a plausible approach for assessing the motivational basis for sports injury rehabilitation exhibited by athletes. Nevertheless, issues pertaining to score reliability warrant further instrument development and evaluation studies.
