Predictors of concussion reporting intentions in adolescent hockey players

Bibliographic Data

ID21623504
AuthorsNatalie D Macdonald (Bond University), Oliver Baumann (0000-0002-0797-9464, Bond University, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume43
Issue1
Pages725-731
Publication date2024-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCurrent Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1046-1310 • E-ISSN: 1936-4733
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s12144-023-04316-7
PMID36819751
OpenAlexW4320039111
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited30

Young athletes who do not report a concussion injury are at greater risk for a prolonged recovery time and further neurocognitive impairments. Despite the seriousness of the issue and the scale of the problem, not enough is known about the behavioural underpinnings of concussion underreporting in minor athletes. This paper aims to apply the Knowledge, Attitude, and Behaviour (KAB) framework to the issue of injury reporting in adolescents, with the specific purpose of exploring to which degree concussion knowledge, concussion attitudes, and gender affect concussion reporting intentions of both male and female athletes. We recruited 97 young athletes between the ages of 14 and 19 (M = 16.22, SD = 11.06) from the Okanagan Hockey Academy (Canada) and employed a self-administered supervised survey approach to measuring the target variables. A hierarchical multiple regression was conducted, and consistent with the prior literature, females were more likely to report a sport-related concussion than males. It was further found that attitudes around concussions (i.e., taking concussions seriously) were significant predictors of concussion reporting intention. At the same time, there was no significant relationship between concussion knowledge and concussion reporting intention. These results highlight that knowledge about concussion symptoms is insufficient to warrant proper injury reporting. It will therefore be essential to work on changing the attitudes of young athletes regarding the significance of concussions to achieve meaningful behavioural change

Concussion · Ice hockey · Injury prevention · Medical emergency · Physical medicine and rehabilitation · Poison control · Applied Psychology · Clinical Psychology · Medicine · Psychology · Resilience and Mental Health · Suicide and Self-Harm Studies · Traumatic Brain Injury Research

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