Quality of Life in Former Sport Participants

Overview:

The measure is intended to capture both positive and negative impacts of sport on quality of life. Sport-related joint injury is experienced in most sport participants and can result in post-traumatic osteoarthritis which can cause pain and functional limitations. Quality of life measures that are commonly used in former athletes (e.g. SF-36, EQ-5D) are developed in a way that individuals with pain or physical limitations will receive a poor QOL score, even if they perceive their quality of life to be good.  

Our qualitative research in this field has found that former athletes may possess characteristics such as heightened levels of resilience and positive emotions related to past accomplishment in sport that may positively contribute to QoL in the presence of joint pain or osteoarthritis.1 On the other hand, involuntary retirement from sport, due to injury or subsequent re-injury fears, may have negative implications on long-term quality of life for some individuals.2 The specific psychological impacts of sport are not evaluated in available QOL measures. To date, no measures are available to evaluate the impact of sport on QOL in former sport participants. Such a measure should consider both the negative and positive impacts of sport, to provide a holistic evaluation of sport-related QOL in former athletes.  

Aims and Objectives:

• To systematically review the literature on QOL in former sport participants.
• To qualitatively investigate the contribution of sport to QOL in former sport participants.
• To develop a new instrument to evaluate the contribution of sport to QOL in former sport participants.

Outputs:

Filbay SR, Bishop FL, Peirce N, Jones ME, Arden NK. Common attributes in retired professional cricketers that may enhance or hinder quality of life after retirement: a qualitative study BMJ Open 2017;0:e016541. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016541 

Filbay SR, Ackerman IN, Dhupelia S, Arden NK, Crossley KM. (2018) Quality of life in symptomatic anterior cruciate ligament reconstructed individuals, with and without radiographic knee osteoarthritis. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy 48(5): 398-408. Doi: 10.2519/jospt.2018.7830 

Bullock GS., Panagodage-Perera NK., Murray A., Arden NK., Filbay SR.  Relationship between cricket participation, health and well-being: scoping review protocol. (2019) BMJ Open Volume 9 Issue 11 doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-032070 

Bullock GS., Collins G., Peirce N., Arden NK., Filbay SR.  Physical activity and health-related quality of life in former elite and recreational cricketers from the UK with upper extremity or lower extremity persistent joint pain: a cross-sectional study. (2019) BMJ Open Vol 9: Issue 11 doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-032606 

Filbay, S, Pandya, T, Thomas, B, McKay, C, Adams, J and Arden, N. Quality of Life and Life Satisfaction in Former Athletes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.  Sports Medicine (2019) Volume 49: Issue 11 pp 1723-1738. doi.org/10.1007/s40279-019-01163-0 

Bullock GS, Collins G. Peirce N, Ardern N, Filbay SR. Health-related quality of life and flourishing in current and former recreational and elite cricketers Health Quality of Life Outcomes 2020. 18 (1), 1-12 doi: 10.1186/s12955-020-01301-7. 

Bullock GS, Collins G. Peirce N, Ardern N, Filbay SR. Playing sport injured is associated with osteoarthritis, joint pain and worse health-related quality of life: a cross-sectional study. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 2020. 21 (1), 1-11 doi: 10.1186/s12891-020-3136-5. 

Work Package	Life Course Impact: Transform
Objective	1.1, 1.2 also WP 1: 2.3,2.4, 2.5ii
Investigators	Stephanie Filbay, Jo Adams, Carly McKay, Jem Lawson, Mark Batt, Anthony Papathomas, Sophie Rees and Nigel Arden