Development of Data Collection Instruments for Sports Medicine Surveillance of Wrestlers in Iran

Sports medicine surveillance system is a modern preventive effort and is considered essential to improve health of the athletic population. these systems have been stabilised in some developed countries. however, surveillance techniques in other countries such as iran may yet be beneficial to improve the health of athletic populations. it seems that cohort based surveillance employing coaches is a practical method for surveillance of sports injuries in developing countries such as iran. to develop a surveillance system several steps should be followed including: determine the objectives, determine case definitions, verify data source or data collection mechanism, develop data collection instruments, field-testing, plan analysis and interpretation, plan dissemination of result and evaluation. developing data collection instruments and protocol are essential parts of this sequence. the objective of this study was to develop data collection instruments for sports medicine surveillance of wrestlers in iran. three forms were developed based on published literature and existing data collection instruments as well as interviews with some experts in iran. the first form is designed for enrolment of wrestlers for cohort surveillance. the second form designed to collect data on illness and skin infections related to wrestling. the third form aim at recording wrestling injuries which covers characteristics and severity of injuries, possible risk factors, and treatment. to evaluate the validity of the forms, they were reviewed by a panel of experts in iran including some team physicians, coaches, and wrestlers. in the second phase, a pilot study was performed on 30 wrestlers in two clubs in tehran. the objectives of this pilot study were to assess the feasibility and acceptability of protocol and questionnaire and also to evaluate that the questions are understandable. a test-re-test was performed on 20 wrestlers in three clubs in tehran to measure the reliability of the forms. the result showed that the forms are valid and reliable and can be employed for sports medicine surveillance of wrestlers in iran.