Mandated High School Concussion Education and Collegiate Athletes' Understanding of Concussion

Abstract

Context: Concussions in student-athletes are a serious problem. Most states have enacted legislation mandating concussion education for student-athletes, under the assumption that education leads to better self-reporting of concussions and improved knowledge of symptoms.

Objectives: (1) To determine the effect of state-based concussion legislation on the proportion of student-athletes receiving concussion education and to assess the moderation of this effect by gender and sport and (2) to assess the effect of concussion education on student-athletes' knowledge of concussion symptoms and likelihood of seeking treatment after a concussion.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Private university.

Patients or other participants: A total of 249 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics collegiate athletes attending St Xavier University; 160 were surveyed prelegislation and 89 were surveyed postlegislation.

Main outcome measure(s): Participants completed an anonymous survey that assessed previous involvement in concussion-education programs, degree of self-reporting after a concussion, and ability to enumerate symptoms.

Results: The number of athletes who reported having received education increased after the implementation of concussion legislation; however, almost 25% still reported not having received education. Athletes who played football were more likely to report having received education than those who played volleyball. The student-athletes' ability to name a diversity of concussion symptoms or to report seeking medical attention after a concussion did not improve in the postlegislation period relative to the prelegislation period.

Conclusions: Legislation has been passed in all 50 states to address concussions in student-athletes; however, improvements are still needed. Concussion education must be delivered in a uniform, effective manner to all student-athletes across sports and genders. Concussion education should emphasize the diversity of symptoms, especially cognitive and behavioral symptoms. We must develop and disseminate evidence-based educational programs that are clinically proven to be effective in improving athletes' knowledge and behaviors.

Keywords: legislation; student-athletes; traumatic brain injuries.

Figure 1.

Percentage of athletes who received concussion training by sport.

Figure 2.

Percentage of athletes who named 1 or more concussion symptoms for each category.