Psychological interventions used to reduce sports injuries: a systematic review of real-world effectiveness.

<bold>Objective: </bold>To systematically review studies examining the role of psychological interventions in injury prevention. The primary research question was: What is the real-world effectiveness of psychological intervention in preventing sports injuries?<bold>Design: </bold>Mixed methods systematic review with best evidence synthesis.<bold>Data Sources: </bold>CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, Science Direct and PubMed.<bold>Eligibility Criteria For Selecting Studies: </bold>Randomised controlled trials (RCT), non-RCTs that included a comparison group, before and after study designs and qualitative methods. Studies were required to outline specific unimodal or multimodal psychological interventions used in relation to injury prevention in the real-world setting.<bold>Outcome Measure: </bold>Studies were independently appraised with the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool.<bold>Results: </bold>Thirteen papers (incorporating 14 studies) met the eligibility criteria, of which 93% (13/14) reported a decrease in injury rates (effect size range=0.2-1.21). There was an overall moderate risk of bias in reporting (52%). There is a dominance of stress management-based interventions in literature due to the prominence of the model of stress and athletic injury within the area.<bold>Summary/conclusions: </bold>Psychological interventions demonstrate small (0.2) to large (1.21) effects on sports injury rates. The research area demonstrates a cumulative moderate risk in reporting bias (52%).<bold>Prospero Registration Number: </bold>CRD42016035879. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]