Perceived organizational influences on Western U.S. collegiate athletes’ attitudes toward concussion risks and concussion reporting

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates how cultural narratives from people at varying positions in a team culture affect athletes’ attitudes toward concussion injures and concussion reporting. Power Five National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletes (N = 226) competing in high-concussion risk sports completed a survey exploring the frequency with which they heard performance or safety narratives from three distinct organizational sources: coaches, Athletic Trainers (ATs), and teammates. Athletes then completed scales measuring perceived immediacy of concussion consequences, perceived probability of suffering short- and long-term consequences of concussions, and three distinct dimensions of attitudes toward concussion-reporting behavior. Regression analyses revealed that both message frequency and source matter to athletes when forming attitudes and perceptions about the concussion-reporting behaviors that universities are advocating. Implications and recommendations for organizations designed to motivate athletes to report concussions to conclude the paper.

KEYWORDS:

• Cultural narrative
• organizational influence
• risk perception
• concussion reporting
• collegiate athletics

Acknowledgements

Land use statement: The authors would like to acknowledge that this research was produced on the ancestral homelands of American Indian tribes that have inhabited the space for centuries, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) peoples. We recognize that these sovereign peoples were forcibly removed from their land, and we respect the many Indigenous peoples still connected to this land. We honor and thank the Indigenous ancestors of this place.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the US Department of Defense under the Mind Matters Challenge grant program.