Kaitlin N. Fortier, Stuart G. Wilson, Jeffrey G. Caron, Luc J. Martin

Through sport, athletes derive a sense of identity and create meaningful connections with their teammates. However, injury can threaten these positive experiences through its effects on social support and psychological outcomes. Though researchers are generating valuable insights regarding social support for injured athletes during recovery, the literature has yet to fully explore their dynamic, day-to-day experiences. The purpose of this study is to use a daily diary methodology to investigate how athletes’ perceptions of social support predict psychological and physical responses during rehabilitation from a musculoskeletal injury. Approximately 20 injured interuniversity athletes from interdependent sports who are unable to practice or compete for 2-12 weeks will participate. Athletes will attend a briefing session and complete daily surveys (taking about 3-5 minutes) for a minimum of 20 days. The daily items will assess athletes’ perceptions of received and desired social support, social identity, well-being, motivation, optimism, and pain. Descriptive statistics and intraclass coefficients will be calculated to determine the proportion of variance due to within-person and between-person levels. Primary analyses will involve multilevel modeling to reflect the nested structure of the data, enabling the investigation of daily changes and individual differences. It is expected that higher levels of perceived daily social support will be associated with more positive psychological (i.e., social identity, well-being, motivation, and optimism) and lower physical (i.e., pain) outcomes. Findings from this study will advance our understanding of the daily experiences of injured athletes and inform practices to better support them in navigating the associated psychosocial challenges.