Development of the Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale for Sports-Related Concussion

Abstract

<h3>Research Objectives</h3> Clinicians, medical professionals, and athletic trainers need to know how often athletes use Protective Behavioral Strategies (PBS), such as wearing protective gear. Thus, this study was designed to: 1. Develop a Protective Behavioral Strategies (PBS) scale for sports-related concussion (SRC) 2. Test the hypothesis that four factors would emerge from this scale via Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA); the four hypothesized factors were: preventative strategies, strategies used during sport participation, post-injury/recovery strategies, and participation cessation strategies. <h3>Design</h3> Cross-sectional, retrospective, survey study. <h3>Setting</h3> Online survey taken in a supervised research lab from March - December 2019. <h3>Participants</h3> Participants were university students (N = 1,141, Mage = 19.47, SD = 2.14, female = 64.0%, white = 87.4%) at a large university who were previously or currently engaged in recreational, club, or college sports. <h3>Interventions</h3> N/A. <h3>Main Outcome Measures</h3> An EFA was used to determine factor structure of this 22-item scale. Items were measured on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from "never" to "always". <h3>Results</h3> EFA results determined that the PBS construct for SRC included a single factor ("Total PBS Use") as opposed to the four hypothesized factors. This single factor solution for these items showed good internal consistency (α = .94), strong evidence for homogeneity (Ω = .94), and explained 59.3% of the variance in the items. <h3>Conclusions</h3> While EFA results are promising, future research with additional data collection and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) is needed to confirm a single factor solution among college students. Following confirmation, studies will investigate if increased use of the PBS scale reduces SRC risk. If the PBS scale does reduce SRC risk, clinicians could incorporate this measure into intake/initial assessment of athletes to individualize SRC prevention and intervention efforts. <h3>Author(s) Disclosures</h3> None of the authors on this submission possess conflicts of interest.