A Psychometric Evaluation of the Recovery Stress Questionnaire for Athletes (RESTQ-Sport)

Abstract

The Recovery Stress Questionnaire for Athletes (RESTQ-Sport; Kallus & Kellmann, 2016) has been utilized in over one hundred research studies on overtraining in sport (Kallus & Kellmann, 2016). Despite recommendations from researchers to incorporate the RESTQ-Sport into existing practices for monitoring athletes’ responses to training load, gaps in the literature impede the translation of the measure from research to practice (Saw, Main, & Gastin, 2015a; Taylor, Chapman, Cronin, Newton, & Gill, 2012). To address gaps in the literature and enhance knowledge regarding the measurement nuances of the RESTQ-Sport, three systematic studies were completed in the current dissertation project. For all three studies, online survey data were collected from athletes (N = 567) participating at various levels of competitive sport (i.e., collegiate, professional, Olympic/international). Results of the first study revealed several problems with the RESTQ-Sport measurement model, including item redundancy, inadequate scale reliability, and inadequate validity of the hierarchical factor structure. Results of the first study also indicated some evidence to support the simple structure underpinning profile analysis (i.e., 76 items loading on to 19 scales; Kellmann, 2010). Results of the second study revealed that while there is considerable overlap between the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and the RESTQ-Sport, additional (29-46%) variance in RESTQ-Sport responses must be explained by variables other than mood states. Results of the second study, in conjunction with those of the first study, demonstrate that the POMS and RESTQ-Sport may be equally effective for identifying athletes at risk of overtraining, yet the RESTQ-Sport may provide more information than the POMS that can be used to enhance the specificity of individualized mood repair interventions. Results of the third study revealed that exercise intensity tolerance, pain catastrophizing, perceived susceptibility to sport injury, and chronic psychological stress are variables that explain significant proportions of variance in the perceived stress and recovery of non-contact and contact sport athletes’. Results of the third study highlighted the particular influence of chronic psychological stress on RESTQ-Sport responses. Taken together, the results of the dissertation research advance the RESTQ-Sport literature from a measurement perspective, and therefore prompt several implications for the improvement of professional practice.