Exploring Australian high-performance athletes' perceptions and experiences of sport participation during pregnancy and post-pregnancy: Development and test-retest reliability of the Mum-Alete Survey

Victoria K Forsdick; Rachel Harris; Richard Saw; Melanie Hayman; Hannah Buckling; Jorunn Sundgot-Borgen; David Hughes; Nirmala K Panagodage Perera

doi:10.1016/j.ptsp.2022.09.003

Exploring Australian high-performance athletes' perceptions and experiences of sport participation during pregnancy and post-pregnancy: Development and test-retest reliability of the Mum-Alete Survey

Phys Ther Sport. 2022 Nov:58:80-86. doi: 10.1016/j.ptsp.2022.09.003. Epub 2022 Sep 21.

Authors

Victoria K Forsdick¹, Rachel Harris², Richard Saw³, Melanie Hayman⁴, Hannah Buckling⁵, Jorunn Sundgot-Borgen⁶, David Hughes³, Nirmala K Panagodage Perera³

Affiliations

¹ AIS Clinical Services, Australian Institute of Sport, Leverrier Street, Bruce, ACT, 2617, Australia; Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre, AAMI Park, 60 Olympic Boulevard, Melbourne, VIC, 3004, Australia. Electronic address: drvictoriaforsdick@gmail.com.
² AIS Female Performance Health Initiative, Australian Institute of Sport, Leverrier Street, Bruce, ACT, 2617, Australia; Perth Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Research Institute, West Perth, WA, 6005, Australia.
³ AIS Clinical Services, Australian Institute of Sport, Leverrier Street, Bruce, ACT, 2617, Australia; Research Institute of Sport and Exercise, University of Canberra, Bruce, ACT, 2601, Australia.
⁴ Central Queensland University, 114-190 Canning Street, The Range, QLD, 4700, Australia.
⁵ AIS Female Performance Health Initiative, Australian Institute of Sport, Leverrier Street, Bruce, ACT, 2617, Australia; The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, 2006, Australia.
⁶ The Norwegian School of Sports Sciences, Sognsveien 220, 0863, Oslo, Norway.

PMID: 36228482
DOI: 10.1016/j.ptsp.2022.09.003

Abstract

Objectives: To develop and assess the test-retest reliability of a survey exploring high-performance athletes' perceptions and experiences during and post-pregnancy.

Design: Cross-sectional mixed-methods survey.

Methods: A three-phase approach was employed to develop the Mum-Alete survey. Relevant domains and questions were identified through a review of the literature and gap analysis (Phase 1). The face and content validity were assessed during Phase 2. The survey was modified, and the final survey included 113 questions. The test-retest reliability was assessed during Phase 3. Seven athletes aged ≥18 years who were currently pregnant and/or given birth since 1 July 2016 were recruited. The survey was administered via Qualtrics and completed on two occasions. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were determined to assess test-retest reliability (excellent, good, moderate, and poor).

Results: The average ICC of all items was 0.962 (95% CI 0.957-0.966) demonstrating excellent test-retest reliability. The test-retest reliability was excellent for the demographic and general questions domain (ICC = 0.967 95% CI 0.955-0.977) and good for the exercise (ICC 0.762 95% CI 0.707-0.811), physical health (ICC 0.841 95% CI 0.810-0.868) and well-being (ICC 0.827 95% CI 0.784-0.865) domains.

Conclusions: The high test-retest reliability of the survey indicates excellent consistency of measures between the two time-points.

Keywords: Athlete; Postpartum; Pregnancy; Return to sport.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Athletes*
Australia
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Humans
Pregnancy
Reproducibility of Results
Surveys and Questionnaires