Effect of contextual/procedure-based concussion education on community college student-athlete reporting of concussion

Abstract

Various measures have been recommended to facilitate early identification of concussion including concussion education. Most commonly, concussion education is provided via lecture, video, and written materials. The extent to which these modes of concussion education result in greater self-reporting of concussion by student-athletes is unclear. This retrospective study compared student-athlete concussion reporting behaviors of participants who received traditional concussion education with those who also received a contextual/procedure-based learning approach. Sports medicine charts were reviewed for 2 groups: collegiate student-athletes (n = 301) who received concussion education in the fall semester of 2015 in a classroom setting that included lecture, hand-outs and viewing a video (Traditional Learning Group) and collegiate student-athletes (n = 271) who received traditional education in the fall 2016 semester and additionally received contextual/procedure-based learning approach (Contextual/Procedure-based Learning Group). Data was analyzed using a series of t-tests. Percent of concussions identified increased by 42% when comparing the fall 2015 Traditional Learning Group to the fall 2016 Contextual/Procedure-based Learning Group. Self-reporting of concussion by student-athletes increased 69% in the Contextual/Procedure-based Learning Group. Time to report concussion was significantly lower for participants in the Contextual/Procedure-based Learning Group, but this result was specific only to male student-athletes. This study indicates a contextual/procedural-based learning approach to concussion education may positively influence reporting and reduce time to report when compared to a more traditional lecture-based approach to concussion education.

Sports-Related Concussion in Adolescent Gaelic Games Players

“…5 This has been proven to be successful in collegiate athletes. 4 However, ecological models suggest that there are multiple levels of interacting factors that influence health behaviors. 25 This might explain, at least partially, why SRC interventions that solely target individual athlete behavior have not been shown to affect universal behavioral change long term.…”