Increased Female Athlete Triad Knowledge Following a Brief Video Educational Intervention

Abstract

To assess female high school athletes’ changes in Female Athlete Triad (Triad) knowledge following a brief educational intervention.Triad knowledge questionnaires were completed by female high school athletes before and after either an educational video intervention or control group activities.Four high schools in the Pacific Northwest.Ninety-three female high school athletes (15.9±1.2 years) participating in basketball, cheerleading, track & field, softball, soccer, golf, tennis, and volleyball.The 10-minute Social Cognitive Theory-based educational video highlighted Triad etiology, progression, impact on sports performance, and fueling strategies to decrease Triad risk.Triad knowledge score out of 7; proportion of participants who correctly answered each question.Mann-Whitney U tests assessed differences in pre and post intervention Triad knowledge scores between the control and intervention group. The McNemar test compared the proportion of participants (intervention group) who correctly answered individual Triad knowledge questions pre vs. post-intervention.Participants in the intervention group achieved greater increases in Triad knowledge following the intervention, than did control participants (P<0.001). For each Triad question, improvements in the proportion of participants (intervention group) who answered correctly was observed (P<0.05).The Triad educational video was an effective and timeefficient method for increasing Triad knowledge among female high school athletes.