Psychosocial experiences of concussed collegiate athletes: The role of emotional support in the recovery process

Abstract

Objective: Understand from whom concussed football players seek and receive emotional support, and whether this support is associated with injury perceptions. Participants: Football players (N = 26) from three NCAA Division I programs. Methods: With approval from the head athletic trainer, concussed athletes (2017 season) completed short surveys within 4–6 days of diagnosis and when cleared to return. Results: Concussed athletes perceived their injury as a normal consequence of playing football, not serious, and reported little, if any, depression and anxiety. Athletes reported the most support from athletic trainers; the least from coaches and teammates. Emotional support was associated with fewer adverse psychosocial reactions, more sport-injury related growth, and greater intentions to report future concussion symptoms. Conclusion: Results from this pilot study suggest that emotional support during the concussion recovery process should be understood and fostered by university officials charged with the health and well-being of collegiate football players.

Keywords:

• Athletics
• health education
• mental health

Acknowledgement

We gratefully acknowledge our collaborators Monica Lininger and Debbie Craig and graduate assistants Patrick Doyle and Keragan Cavolo for their assistance.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Northern Arizona University Review Board.

Funding

This research was supported by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) on a programmatic research project investigating NCAA football programs’ efforts to increase concussion-reporting behavior (Mind Matters). The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of the NCAA or the U.S. DoD.