B - 52 A Pilot Study for the Responsible Concussion Commentary Checklist: Evaluating Commentary of Head Injury Assessment in the Australian National Rugby League

Abstract

Abstract Objective Focus on sport-related concussion has increased due to growing concerns regarding the long-term effects of repeated concussion. To improve player safety, some sports have adopted new injury assessment and management protocols. These efforts may be undercut by the live media coverage of concussion, which is known to downplay concussion. This pilot study explored how live sports commentary from the Australian National Rugby League portrays concussion in the context of the newly introduced Head Injury Assessment (HIA) protocol. Method 15 concussions were randomly selected from the 69 HIA-tiggering events from rounds 1 to 8 of the 2024 season. The live commentary for those events was evaluated using a concussion commentary checklist. This multi-item checklist was developed from existing recommendations for the responsible reporting of concussion. The checklist evaluated the extent to which the commentary met the gold standard requirements (e.g., used the correct injury terminology) and yielded an overall impression score (commentary quality). Results Impression ratings revealed that the commentary was rarely scored as high quality, indicating that it did not meet the gold standard expected for accurate and responsible commentary of on field instances of suspected concussion. The scores for the individual checklist items were also frequently low. Commonly identified issues included the use of incorrect injury terminology and injury minimisation. Conclusion This pilot study showed that the live commentary of suspected concussion was poor. The findings have implications for concussion awareness through changed practices in live sports commentary. Commentary guidance is needed to prevent the spread of misinformation about concussion among sport spectators.