Development of Screening Test Battery for Volleyball Players: A Mixed Method Study

Purpose: Design and development of functional movement screening in athletes are one of the important measures taken for reducing the injury in professional sports. Today, functional movement screening aimed at identifying athletes susceptible to injury is designed and implemented based on fundamental functional patterns and the performance of that particular sport. Currently, there are no standard protocols for the screening of volleyball-specific performance movements. Methods: In this study, 20 volleyball high level experts were selected through purposive sampling method. The study data were collected by semi-structured interviews and field notes in 2017. The interview transcripts were encoded using MAXQDA V. 10 software. To extract categories and subjects, the thematic analysis approach was used. The results of interviews were conducted in a questionnaire to determine the validity and reliability was investigated. Face validity, content validity and construct validity (convergent and divergent validity) of the questionnaire was evaluated, too. The reliability was estimated by a test-retest method of 2 weeks interval using the intraclass correlation coefficient. Results: In first analysis process, initial codes were extracted and then, 38 (out of the 82 existing potential tests) tests were identified. Finally, after proper examining of the validity and reliability of the tests, 12 tests including deep squat, inline lunge, trunk stability push up, rotary stability, shoulder mobility, triple hop for distance, hexagon, lateral lunge, triple jump for distance, sidearm medicine ball throw, closed kinetic chain upper extremity, and squat jump were identified for inclusion in screening test battery. Conclusion: Based on the results of the interviews, the interviewees’ choices are more based on the similarity of the tests with the movement patterns and performance capabilities in volleyball and considering the anatomical areas prone to injury. More prospective and follow up studies with various volleyball players are needed to show the capability of these tests to predict injuries.