Making Football Safer for Women: Implementing an Injury Prevention Program

Prep-to-Play: Comparing the Impact of Supported and Unsupported Implementation Strategies on the Use of an Injury Prevention Program in Women's/Girl's Community Football

The aim of this study is to determine how we can best support coaches to implement an injury prevention (IP) program (Prep-to-Play) in female community Australian Football. We will recruit at least 140 female community football teams from 15 different football leagues in Victoria, Australia. Teams will be competing in U16, U17, U18, U19 or open womens competitions. We will train and support coaches to implement the IP program and evaluate the effects of the IP program on injuries across two football seasons.

Primary Aim: To compare the impact of supported and unsupported implementation strategies on the use of an IP program (Prep-to-Play) in female community Australian Football.

Secondary aims are to:

1. Evaluate the effects of supported implementation of Prep-to-Play on injury risk reduction.
2. Identify barriers and enablers to sustainability of the Prep-to-Play implementation model, and develop clear recommendations for a future, sustainable national roll out of Prep-to-Play.
3. Evaluate the cost-effectiveness of Prep-to-Play.

Primary hypothesis

The primary hypothesis is that supported implementation will result in increased use of Prep-to-Play in female community Australian Football compared to unsupported implementation.

Secondary hypotheses

The secondary hypotheses are that the supported implementation of Prep-to-Play will:

• result in a reduction of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in females participating in community Australian Football;
• result in a reduction of other musculoskeletal injuries and concussion among females participating in community Australian Football;
• be more cost-effective than the unsupported implementation.

Inclusion Criteria

• Coach consents to be trained and to implement Prep-to-Play
• Team includes players aged 13 years and above registered to play community football
• The team trains at least once per week in addition to match-play
• Coach has at least Level I coach accreditation (or enrolled to be accredited in 2021)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Inability to understand written English
• Players aged less than 13 years