Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate injury prevention and management plans in competitive swimming in order to design a profiling tool for swim clubs. Using interviews and questionnaires, current coach-implemented injury prevention and management practices were determined as well as perceptions of how injuries should be prevented and managed in competitive swimming. Swimmers also reported their perceptions and experiences of their coaches` injury prevention and management plans. Finally, sports medicine professionals were included in the interview phase as a triangulating data source regarding their impressions of coach-implemented injury management programs. Method: Phase one of this study incorporated collecting qualitative data through one-on-one interviews with coaches (N=12), sports medicine professionals (N=6), and injured or previously injured swimmers (N=5). Data were analysed following a grounded theory process of inductive analysis, where key quotes were grouped into a hierarchy of categories. The information in these categories was then combined with knowledge gained from the extant literature on injury prevention and management procedures to form items for a profiling tool on injury prevention and management for competitive swimming programs. For each item, participants were asked the degree to which they (or their coach) enacted the behaviour and also how important they perceived that behaviour to be for injury prevention and management. Once developed, the Injury Prevention and Management Profile (IPMP) was implemented with 10 coaches and their swim clubs. Additional swimmers (N=136) and coaches (N=15) also completed the IPMP as individuals independent of particular clubs in order to form a more complete picture of current injury prevention and management practices and perceptions. Results and Conclusions: Data from interviews indicated a four-phase model of injury management starting with injury prevention and cycling through short-term management, long-term management, and finally return to full training. Based on these results, items for the IPMP were developed and organised into four categories representing the four phases of injury management. This design appeared to have good face and content validity according to expert feedback from elite swim coaches. Similarly, it seemed effective at capturing injury prevention and management behaviours. Implementation of this profiling tool was deemed appropriate, which warranted another phase of research into injury prevention and management in swimming. Results from this investigation will be discussed in another presentation entitled "Injury prevention and management program for competitive swimming: Intervention and evaluation".
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