Improving Concussion Education: Do Athletic Trainers' Opinions Match Expert Consensus?

Area of Science:

• Sports Medicine
• Concussion Management
• Athletic Training

Background:

• The NCAA-DoD Mind Matters Challenge developed recommendations to enhance concussion care-seeking behaviors in athletes and cadets.
• Athletic trainers (ATs) play a crucial role in concussion education and care, making their perspective on these recommendations vital.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess and compare the perceptions of secondary school (SS) and collegiate athletic trainers regarding the utility and feasibility of NCAA-DoD concussion recommendations.
• To identify potential barriers and facilitators in implementing concussion education strategies.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study utilizing an electronic survey distributed to 515 ATs.
• Participants rated the utility and feasibility of 17 recommendations on a Likert scale (1-9).
• Consensus was defined as a mean rating of ≥7.00; comparisons between SS and collegiate ATs were made using Mann-Whitney U tests.

Main Results:

• Two-thirds of ATs were unaware of the NCAA-DoD consensus statement.
• All recommendations were rated as useful (mean ≥ 7.0), but four related to stakeholder collaboration fell short of the feasibility threshold (mean range = 6.66-6.84).
• Secondary school ATs reported lower feasibility for educational content, patient education during recovery, and peer intervention, but higher utility and feasibility for parent education compared to collegiate ATs.

Conclusions:

• The NCAA-DoD Mind Matters Challenge recommendations need wider dissemination.
• Collaboration with stakeholders presents a feasibility barrier for ATs implementing concussion recommendations.
• Secondary school ATs require enhanced resources for concussion education, messaging, and peer intervention, while demonstrating greater efficacy in parent education compared to their collegiate counterparts.