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Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4824-3311

Publication Date

2022

Abstract

Although research evidence supports religiosity’s predominantly positive mental and physical health benefits to patients coping with varied health problems, there are few studies exploring the influence of religiosity on coping with sport injuries among athletes identifying with specific religions. This study examined the relationships between religiosity and the use of religious and non-religious ways of coping with sport injuries by athletes affiliated with diverse Christian denominations. Within a concurrent mixed methods design, adult athletes (N = 88) responded to an online survey asking about several religiosity factors, their most serious or challenging sport injuries, and their ways of coping with those injuries. Quantitative results showed that religious commitment correlated with specific religious beliefs and behaviors, positive religious ways of coping predominated over negative, and religious commitment fully mediated the relationship between athletes’ Christian denominations and their use of positive, but not negative, religious ways of coping with sport injuries. Thematic template analysis of qualitative data similarly revealed that religious ways of coping with sport injuries were predominantly positive in valence and benefitted physical and mental rehabilitation and recovery processes. Christian athletes relied on both religious and non-religious coping sources during their sport injury recoveries, and their ways of coping centered on their personal and religious identities. These results support that holistic care models encompassing sport psychology, sports medicine, and sports ministry should adapt intervention and treatment plans to accommodate personal religiosity and build on positive and adaptive religious ways of coping with sport injuries when working with religiously committed Christian athletes.

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