Responsibilities in the Prevention of Concussion in Community Rugby Union

Abstract

Despite growing awareness of the issue of sport-related concussion, the extent to which different participants in rugby union (e.g., players, coaches, parents, medics, and referees) understand how to prevent concussion is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine how people with different roles in community rugby union prevent sport-related concussion; specifically, how individuals understand their role-specific responsibilities in prevention, as well as their prevention behaviours. Using a social-ecological systems perspective, this study identified both communalities and discrepancies in the role-specific responsibilities held by different actors within the community rugby system. There was notable congruency in the responsibilities and prevention strategies presented by coach, athlete, and parent respondents. Conversely, inconsistencies were identified in the specificity of inter-role responsibilities, as well as in the prevention strategies utilized by both different individual actors, as well as different levels of the system. Future prevention strategies should aim to recognize the occurrence of role multiplicity in community sport, and consider the impact this may have on information translation within the real-world context of the community rugby culture.