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Updated: May 20, 2025
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A Neuroscientific Approach to the Examination of Concussions in Student-Athletes
Published on: December 8, 2014
12.7K
Context Matters: Extra-Personal Factors Underlying Concussion Reporting in University Athletes
William Archambault1,2, Dave Ellemberg1
1École de Kinésiologie et Sciences de l'Activité Physique, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada.
Sports (Basel, Switzerland)
|March 26, 2025
Summary
Understanding concussion disclosure is crucial for athlete safety. External factors like contextual incentives and socio-cultural pressures significantly influence whether student-athletes report their sports concussions.
Area of Science:
- Sports Medicine
- Psychology
- Sociology
Background:
- Concussion disclosure is vital for proper management and recovery.
- Limited understanding exists regarding the specific factors influencing athletes' decisions to disclose concussions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify and characterize the key external factors affecting sports concussion (SC) disclosure.
- To describe how these factors influence the concussion disclosure process in student-athletes.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative interviews were conducted with nine university student-athletes.
- Constant comparative analysis, guided by grounded theory, was used to analyze interview content.
Main Results:
- Eleven extra-personal concepts influencing concussion reporting were identified.
- These concepts were categorized into Contextual Incentives and Socio-Cultural Pressures.
- Each concept can create high-stakes (deterring disclosure) or low-stakes (encouraging disclosure) conditions.
Conclusions:
- External factors collectively modulate the perceived stakes of disclosing a concussion, influencing athlete decision-making.
- Tailoring concussion prevention strategies to address these contextual variables may improve SC disclosure rates.
- Qualitative methods are valuable for investigating concussion reporting behaviors.
