Investigation of strategies to improve concussion reporting in American football

ABSTRACT

While research on sport-related concussion has increased dramatically over the past decade, research investigating concussion reporting is in its early stages. The purpose of this project was to assess concussion reporting and work with stakeholders to develop and assess strategies to improve reporting. We used a multi-site, repeated measures design with three NCAA Division I football programs, including 223 athlete participants. A modified community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach was used to develop intervention strategies (Fall 2017 season) with stakeholders designed to increase concussion reporting intentions. Preseason and postseason surveys were administered to determine effectiveness. Main outcome measures included concussion knowledge, intervention effectiveness, and reporting intention measures. For all three programs, concussion knowledge was unrelated to reporting intentions. Two of the three programs implemented the intervention strategies and for these programs there was evidence that the interventions were effective. Specifically, athletes from these two programs perceived more support from coaches about reporting (P< 0.05; t= 2.83), received education more frequently (P< 0.05; t= 2.67), and reported being more likely to report concussion symptoms (P< 0.05; t= 2.14). Our study demonstrates that working with stakeholders to develop site-specific strategies to improve concussion reporting is an effective approach to help improve reporting behaviours.

KEYWORDS:

• Sport-related concussion
• community-based participatory research
• American football
• concussion reporting

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) programmatic research project investigating football programs’ efforts to increase concussion-reporting behaviour (Mind Matters Challenge Grant Program). Neither the NCAA nor DoD had any role in the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, writing or decision to submit the manuscript for publication. No financial disclosures were reported by the authors of this paper. (IRB #868162-1; Exempt review; 1 March 2016)

Disclosure statement

This work was supported by the NCAA and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to investigate efforts to increase concussion-reporting behaviour (NCAA Mind Matters Challenge Program). The authors have no further conflicts of interest to report. As our research did include human subjects, we secured approval from our Institutional Review Board (IRB) prior to conducting this research. (IRB #868,162–1; Exempt review; 1 March 2016) Informed consent documents were signed by all individual participants included in the study prior to their participation.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Collegiate Athletic Association; US Dept of Defense [#868162-1].