Concussions in Collegiate Club Sports: Investigating Concussion Education, Knowledge, and Attitudes

Abstract

Approximately 9 million college students participate in organized sports, with 460,000 college athletes participating at the collegiate level (e.g., NCAA, NAIA) and the remaining 8.5 million playing club and intramural teams. Nationally, an estimated 1.7 to 3 million sports-related concussions (SRCs) occur per year. Despite the overwhelming number of student-athletes participating in collegiate club sports, literature on SRC education, knowledge and attitudes is limited when looking at collegiate club athletes. The purpose of this study is to explore current concussion education given to collegiate club sports athletes and understand players' concussion knowledge and attitudes. A cross-sectional study design using a modified version of Rosenbaum Concussion Knowledge and Attitudes Survey-Student Version (RoCKAS-ST) was emailed to all members within the 33 student-led club sport organizations at a Southeastern university. Seventy-one club athletes from 22 of the club sport organizations responded to the survey. Thirty-two participants (45.1%) reported that they have received at least one sports-related concussion and 39 (54.9%) reported never receiving a SRC. Fifty-five participants (77.5%) reported not receiving a concussion education. Total knowledge was found to have significant differences between participants who received a concussion education and participants who did not (t[69] = 1.135; p = 0.048). No significant differences were found in attitude between collegiate club sport athletes who received a concussion education and players who did not receive a concussion education (t[68] = 0.37; p = 0.700). The study indicated that a majority of collegiate club sport athletes do not receive a concussion education, which impacts their knowledge of concussions. Further research is needed to determine effective concussion prevention education for this population.