Effectiveness and Process Evaluation of the Injury-preventive Program #Utviklingsklar

The majority of injuries among Norwegian youth occur in sports. The purpose of the project is to conduct an effect and process evaluation of the intervention #Utviklingsklar, an injury-preventive club-based intervention in youth handball and football. Central to the evaluation is whether the intervention influences the occurrence of new and recurring injuries through changed coaching practices (injury prevention warm-up, strength training, and management of players with pain and injuries). Over one season, participants from 30 clubs in youth handball and football respectively will participate in two cluster-randomized studies. Coaches and club leaders implement #Utviklingsklar and create plans and practices for injury prevention. The control clubs train as usual. Players report injuries. An additional handball and football club are followed up with observation and interviews in a qualitative part of the process evaluation. The project provides knowledge about how injuries and health in the ¾ of Norwegian youth who participate in organized sports are affected by interventions aimed at club and coaching practices.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Sports Injury
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: #Utviklingsklar

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 2954
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Norway
  • Bergen, Norway
    • Hordaland Fotballkrets
  • Oslo, Norway
    • Håndballregion Øst
  • Oslo, Norway
    • Oslo Fotballkrets
  • Strømmen, Norway
    • Akershus Fotballkrets
  • Trondheim, Norway
    • Håndballregion Nord
  • Trondheim, Norway
    • Trøndelag Fotballkrets

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion criteria:

-Clubs are eligible for participation if they are able to participate with one club leader, 2-6 teams, and a minimum of one coach from each of the participating teams

Exclusion criteria:

• Players under the age of 12
• Coaches under the age of 16

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: #Utviklingsklar; The intervention consists of 1) an e-learning course, 2) a workshop to create plans and practices for injury-prevention, 3) a mid-season meeting	Behavioral: #Utviklingsklar; The intervention consists of 1) an e-learning course, 2) a workshop to create plans and practices for injury-prevention, 3) a mid-season meeting
No Intervention: Control; Practice as usual, which may include other injury-preventive coaching practices

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center Questionnaire on Health Problems (OSTRC-H2)	Weekly injury severity score (0 best - 100 worst)	Average of biweekly reports over 1 sports season (estimated to 32 weeks)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Sudden and gradual onset injuries	Weekly injury severity score during the match season for sudden and gradual onset injuries	1 sports season (estimated to 32 weeks)
Injury location	Weekly injury severity score during the match season for lower leg, ankle/foot, knee, shoulder (handball), thigh (football), hip/groin (football), lumbosacral (football) and head (football) injuries	1 sports season (estimated to 32 weeks)
Injury location for sudden onset injuries	weekly injury severity score during the match season for sudden onset lower leg, ankle/foot, knee, shoulder (handball), thigh (football), hip/groin (football), and lumbosacral (football) injuries	1 sports season (estimated to 32 weeks)
Injury location gradual onset injuries	Weekly injury severity score during the match season for gradual-onset lower leg, ankle/foot, knee, shoulder (handball), thigh (football), hip/groin (football), and lumbosacral (football) injuries	1 sports season (estimated to 32 weeks)
Injury burden	Defined as the sum of injury severity score divided by the sum of exposure (per 1000 hours), where the sums are over team and over match season. The unit of analysis for burden is thus team and not player.	1 sports season (estimated to 32 weeks)
Sports Injury Preventive Behavior Questionnaire (construct scores 0 worst - 1 best)	The aggregated construct scores for the determinants 1) risk perception, 2) intention, 3) outcome expectancies, 4) action self-efficacy, 5) maintenance self-efficacy, 6) coping self-efficacy, 7) recovery self-efficacy, 8) action plans 9) coping plans and 10) club social support	Baseline, midseason and post season (about 32 weeks)
Injury-preventive coaching practices	The injury-preventive coaching practice outcomes consist of: The change in the extent to which teams complete warm-up as described in the intervention from baseline to end-of season.; The change in the extent to which teams complete strength training as described in the intervention from baseline to end-of season.; The change in the extent to which players with pain or injuries receive guidance on medical care from baseline to end-of season.; The change in the extent to which training and match participation is facilitated for players with pain or injuries from baseline to end-of season.	Baseline and post season (about 32 weeks)

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Fidelity - workshop completion checklist	At workshop (about 1-2 weeks before sports season)
Fidelity - Midseason meeting checklist	Midseason (about 16 weeks)
Dose - workshop attendance checklist	At workshop (about 1-2 weeks before sports season)
Dose - Midseason meeting checklist	Midseason (about 16 weeks)
Dose - completion of e-learning	Before workshop (about 1-2 weeks before sports season)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Norwegian School of Sport Sciences
• Collaborators: Linkoeping University; University of Bath; The Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports; The Norwegian Football Federation; The Norwegian Handball Federation
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Hege Grindem, Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 7, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 9, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): November 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 9, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 26, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): July 3, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 17, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 9, 2025
• Last Verified: December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Wounds and Injuries; Athletic Injuries
• Other Study ID Numbers: 329-130324

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No