Sex differences in college students' knowledge of concussion and concussion education sources

Heck, Stephen J; Acord-Vira, Amanda; Davis, Diana R

doi:10.2217/cnc-2023-0001

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 38 publications

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“…To address this issue, Item Response Theory (IRT) has emerged as a helpful approach, particularly with self-reported measures such as symptom reporting. IRT has recently gained popularity in abbreviating scales for concussion assessment and has been used to abbreviate various health-related and concussion outcomes while maintaining validity (Hamel et al, 2016; Heck et al, 2023; Langer et al, 2008). IRT can quantify gender-specific, shortened versions of multifaceted concussion assessments that are nearly as informative as longer ones (Angoff, 1981).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender Biases In Sports Concussions: A Differential Item Functioning Analysis into NCAA Female Athlete Symptom Presentation and Validity of the SCAT3 Checklist

Edelstein,

Cushing,

Schmidt

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Background: As a consequence of sports-related concussions, female athletes have been documented as reporting more symptoms than their male counterparts, in addition to incurring longer periods of recovery. However, the role of gender and its potential influence on symptom reporting and recovery outcomes in concussion management has not been completely explored. Study Design: This study investigates potential differential item functioning (DIF) related to gender biases within the SCAT3 symptom severity checklist. The data was obtained from the Federal Interagency of Traumatic Brain Injury Research (FITBIR), which included information from the 2014-2017 NCAA and DoD CARE Consortium. A total of 1,258 NCAA athletes (n=473 females and n=785 males) SCAT3 Symptom Severity sub-scores were analyzed across five time points post-concussion: less than six hours post-injury, 24-48 hours post-injury, asymptomatic, unrestricted return to play, and at 6 months. Results: During the recovery phase, women experienced more headaches, pressure in the head, and fatigue than male athletes. Overall, both male and female athletes had equivalent knowledge of concussions, and there was no significant difference in symptom-reporting ability for most items, including emotional-related symptoms. Only during the unrestricted return to play phase were group-level differences detected, with females being more likely to report more severe symptoms than males. However, upon further analysis, it was discovered females exhibit a relatively high difficulty level reporting symptom severity beyond Mild, therefore the group-level DIF may result from gender biases within the checklist. Conclusion: The present analysis posits that Differential Item Functioning (DIF) in specific symptoms may lead to gender bias. The findings of this study reveal that female athletes tend to exhibit symptomatic behavior upon returning to play, a phenomenon consistent with prior research. However, the possible DIF may provoke biases due to unreliable reporting measures within the SCAT3 symptom severity checklist. Furthermore, explaining why recent literature reports that female athletes do not present as symptomatic upon return to play. Additional research is warranted to determine whether females genuinely experience more symptoms or whether the presence of these potential assessment gender biases obstructs the manifestation of asymptomatic recoveries.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%