Predictors of Collegiate Student-Athletes’ Concussion-Related Knowledge and Behaviors

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Objective:This study aimed to explore student-athletes’ concussion-related knowledge and attitudes toward reporting symptoms, demographic predictors of knowledge and attitudes, and determine whether responses to the survey changed following an online educational intervention.Methods:A total of 108 Division I student-athletes enrolled at a large southern university completed a survey evaluating knowledge regarding concussion-related terminology, symptoms and recovery trajectories, as well as attitudes toward reporting symptoms following a possible concussion. Student-athletes completed the questionnaire both 24–48 h before and one week after reviewing the educational presentation.Results:At baseline, participants correctly identified 72% of concussion symptoms included in the questionnaire, as well as correctly identified 75% of items related to the typical recovery trajectory post-concussion. A total of 54% of baseline attitudes toward reporting symptoms matched clinical best practices. Multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed that male sex and non-Caucasian race were associated with worse baseline knowledge of concussion symptoms. Concussion knowledge was not associated with attitudes toward reporting symptoms. Paired samples t-tests indicated that knowledge of concussion-related terminology improved modestly following the educational presentation.Conclusions:Some subsets of collegiate student-athletes show relatively lower knowledge about symptoms of concussion than others. As a result, these groups may benefit from increased educational efforts to ensure they recognize when a concussion may have occurred. Additionally, as knowledge and attitudes were unrelated and the intervention had a modest effect on knowledge but not attitudes, future work should explore interventions that are designed to directly alter attitudes.

Collegiate Athletes' Concussion Awareness, Understanding, and -Reporting Behaviors in Different Countries With Varying Concussion Publicity

“…Concussion knowledge has been heavily studied and surveyed in the United States, and much of the literature pertaining to collegiate athletes suggested that their concussion knowledge and ability to identify true symptoms of concussion, such as headache, sensitivity to light or noise, feeling dizzy, and balance difficulty, were moderate. 30 Comparatively, the Irish collegiate athletes in our study had the poorest scores in total concussion knowledge and symptom recognition. These results parallel the findings of previous researchers 19,21 who observed that Gaelic games athletes and Irish jockeys possessed a good overall understanding of concussion but had misconceptions about false signs and symptoms of concussion.…”

Knowledge of, and Attitudes Toward, Concussion in Japanese Male Collegiate Athletes

“…Reporting the symptoms of suspected concussions depends on athletes' ability to recognize and attribute their symptoms, as many common symptoms are subjective (e.g., headache and dizziness). Several studies on knowledge of concussion have been conducted among collegiate athletes outside of Japan (Fedor and Gunstad, 2015;Beidler et al, 2018Beidler et al, , 2021Chapman et al, 2018;Bernstein et al, 2019;Anderson et al, 2021). These studies have investigated athletes' perceptions of symptoms based on the suspected concussion symptoms presented in the consensus statement (McCrory et al, 2017) and the Sports Concussion Assessment Tool 5 (SCAT 5) (Echemendia et al, 2017) while adding dummy symptoms.…”

Concussion reporting behaviors in student athletes across sexes and levels of contact

“…13,14 Sex differences in concussion reporting is currently inconclusive in the current literature; some research suggests there may be no differences, 15,16 and some studies suggest there are difference. 17,18 For example, Sullivan et al suggests males are more likely to hide concussions. 17 Concussion reporting patterns can also differ between sports with differing levels of contact and sport-specific culture, but these results are inconclusive.…”

“…To assess this, we performed a cross-sectional study in elementary and high school and collegiate student athletes and compared responses to a series of standardized vignettes that asked if they would report a possible concussive head injury during various scenarios and to list reasons why they would be unlikely to report. Prior concussions and level of competition were a priori decided to be potential confounders, 18 hence all analyses were controlled for concussion history and highest level of competition. We hypothesized there would be differences in concussion reporting behaviors between sports of different levels of contact and no differences between the sexes.…”

“…17 Concussion reporting patterns can also differ between sports with differing levels of contact and sport-specific culture, but these results are inconclusive. 17,18 Overall, there is a gap in the current literature regarding differences, if any, a student's sex and type of sport played have on concussion reporting habits. To assess this, we performed a cross-sectional study in elementary and high school and collegiate student athletes and compared responses to a series of standardized vignettes that asked if they would report a possible concussive head injury during various scenarios and to list reasons why they would be unlikely to report.…”