Dance Injury

In this book I investigated aspects of the multi- component stress and injury model which Williams and Andersen (1998) suggested could be applied in areas beyond sport. Two studies were carried out with the goal to develop interventions which were tested for their efficacy in the reduction of injuries in a third study. The Study 1 was to investigate whether psychosocial factors (e.g. stress anxiety social support and coping skills) could predict injuries among dancers. In Study 2 I examined the sources of stress and coping strategies of Korean pro­fessional ballet dancers using in-depth interviews. Dancers were interviewed to identify the stressors they experienced and the coping strategies they used during practice or performance. The Study 3 was to examine the effects of two psychological interventions designed to prevent injury among dancers by enhancing coping skills. I encourage other researchers to follow my lead by studying the psychosocial factors underpinning injury in other specific contexts and then devising and testing interventions based on the knowledge that emerges from the in-depth scrutiny of that context.