School psychological skills training trial reports fewer sports injuries
Primary-school classes received safety education with or without added psychological skills training; injury incidence and emotional-health scores favored the added program.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Children in classes offered psychological skills training alongside routine safety education had fewer reported sports injuries than those given safety education alone. Several emotional and exercise-related scores also favored the added training. The findings concern this school program and its follow-up period; the abstract does not establish which element of the training produced the differences.
The abstract does not describe the training content, how sports injuries were defined or recorded, or how analysis accounted for randomization by class. It provides no confidence interval for the injury comparison.
What researchers found
Sports injury incidence
Added psychological skills training versus routine safety education alone over 6 months; P < 0.001.
A program tested by class
Classes, rather than individual children, were assigned to study groups. Both groups received routine exercise safety education, allowing the trial to examine the addition of psychological skills training within that school setting.
Questionnaire outcomes also changed
Anxiety and depression scores were lower after the added program, while confidence, concentration, positive coping and willingness to exercise were higher. These questionnaire results do not prove the proposed explanation for fewer injuries.
The original publication
School based prevention of children's sports injuries: a cluster randomized controlled trial integrating psychological skills training to reduce injury risk and improve emotional health.
Fang Q, Liu J, Li M
Front Public Health · 2026
- PubMed ID
- 41919299
- Record checked
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