Single-Item Self-Report Measures of Team-Sport Athlete Wellbeing and Their Relationship With Training Load: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: Single-item athlete self-report measures consist of a single question to assess a dimension of wellbeing. These methods are recommended and frequently used for athlete monitoring, yet their uniformity has not been well assessed, and we have a limited understanding of their relationship with measures of training load.

Objective: To investigate the applications and designs of single-item self-report measures used in monitoring team-sport athletes and present the relationship between these measures and measures of training load.

Data sources: PubMed, Scopus, and SPORTDiscus were searched between inception and March 2019.

Study selection: Articles were included if they concerned adult athletes from field- or court-sport domains, if athlete well-being was measured using a single-item self-report, and if the relationship with a measure of modifiable training load was investigated over at least 7 days.

Data extraction: Data related to participant characteristics, self-report measures, training load measures, and statistical analysis and outcomes were extracted by 2 authors (C.D. and C.D.).

Data synthesis: A total of 21 studies were included in the analysis. A narrative synthesis was conducted. The measures used most frequently were muscle soreness, fatigue, sleep quality, stress, and mood. All measures presented various relationships with metrics of training load from no association to a very large association, and the associations were predominantly trivial to moderate in the studies with the largest numbers of observations. Relationships were largely negative associations.

Conclusions: The implications of this review should be considered by users in the application and clinical utility of single-item self-report measures in athlete monitoring. Great emphasis has been placed on examining the relationship between subjective and objective measures of training load. Although the relationship is still unclear, such an association may not be expected or useful. Researchers should consider the measurement properties of single-item self-report measures and seek to establish their relationship with clinically meaningful outcomes. As such, further study is required to inform practitioners on the appropriate objective application of data from single-item self-report measures.

Keywords: athlete monitoring; subjective measures; wellness.