Examining the applied value of narratives for professional practice: An exploration of sports injury narratives in action.

Heeding calls to expand the resources and approaches to psychologically support injured athletes, this study explored the applied value of socio-cultural sports injury narratives for athletes, coaches, and practitioners. Informed by narrative inquiry and pedagogy, six evidence based sports injury narratives were shared and discussed with 69 elite participants (i.e., athletes, coaches, and practitioners) across 11 focus group interviews. A reflexive thematic analysis identified five themes: (1) Forewarned is Forearmed, (2) Building Blocks to Constructing Meaning(s), (3) Fostering Interpersonal Connections, (4) A Common Language, and (5) Promoting Communal Responsibility. Overall, these themes advance empirical understandings of how narratives can inform professional practice by supporting injured athletes across personal (e.g., meaning making), social (e.g., enhancing interpersonal relationships), and cultural (e.g., promoting communal responsibility) levels. Lay Summary: Findings highlight the applied value of socio-cultural sports injury narratives for professional practice. Not only can they assist athletes in navigating their future injury experiences and making sense of their past and current injury experiences, but they can also foster dialogue around injured athletes' experiences, create more interdisciplinary conversations, and promote greater communal responsibility. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Sports injury narratives act as resources that enable athletes to make sense of, construct, and communicate their own injury story. Sport injury narratives enhance relationships between athletes and support networks by facilitating empathy and understanding and promoting more communal dialogue. Sports injury narratives promote a broader duty of care toward injured athletes by raising awareness of how broader socio-cultural contexts constrain and/or enable their experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]