A novel peer concussion-education program (PCEP) was developed to enhance concussion knowledge and reporting among collegiate student-athletes.
To describe the PCEP and its development and ...implementation.
Program development consisting of a literature review, focus group, and pilot implementation.
Athletics department at a college participating at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II-sanctioned competition level.
Fifteen student-athletes from the women's soccer and men's lacrosse teams participated in the focus group. Four peer concussion educators (PCEs) were debriefed after the pilot implementation of the PCEP with the women's soccer and men's lacrosse teams.
Focus-group data were analyzed qualitatively. The PCEs were debriefed, and responses were organized into recommendation types.
The literature review contributed information that supported the development of the PCEP's conceptual model. Focus-group results provided information used to train the PCEs and refine the PCEP's education modules. The pilot implementation and PCE debriefing supplied information used to further revise the education modules, PCE training, and PCEP implementation procedure.
The PCEP was developed based on the Theory of Reasoned Action and Planned Behavior and uses a peer-mediated, cognitive-behavioral, and interdisciplinary model to enhance concussion knowledge of and reporting by collegiate student-athletes. After a focus-group discussion and pilot implementation, we revised the PCEP and its education modules and developed an online manual to facilitate broad dissemination.
Perceived stress and burnout are significant concerns among athletic trainers (ATs) due to growing professional demands. The global COVID-19 pandemic brought additional stressors, especially for ...health care providers, including the need to learn and integrate new skill sets in order to continue providing safe and effective patient care.
To explore the influence of COVID-19 stressors on ATs engaged in patient care.
Cross-sectional study.
Internet survey.
A total of 429 ATs (age = 33 ± 9 years; experience = 11 ± 9 years; 74 men, 355 women) currently providing patient care.
We recruited participants from social media sites to complete a questionnaire with the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS), Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey for Medical Personnel (MBI-HSS MP), and qualitative questions related to the effects of COVID-19. We calculated correlations between CAS and MBI-HSS MP composite scores (emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment, and depersonalization) and used regression analysis to explore if CAS scores could be predicted by vaccination status (vaccinated or unvaccinated), sex, and MBI-HSS MP composite scores. We analyzed the qualitative data using a phenomenological, inductive approach with multianalyst triangulation and peer review as trustworthiness strategies.
Significant correlations existed between CAS and MBI-HSS MP composite scores (P < .001). Emotional exhaustion (P < .001) and depersonalization (P = .008) explained 28% of the variance in CAS scores (F2,405 = 81.29, P < .001). Three major areas of focus emerged: effects on wellness, emphasis on the value of athletic training, and the lessons learned and future innovation to inform potential long-term changes in the athletic training profession.
Key factors of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization during the pandemic may have exacerbated the potential for burnout among ATs. The pandemic affected ATs' wellness, changed perceptions of ATs, and altered operating procedures. Healthy coping strategies and organizational support are suggested for those who are struggling.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association and US Department of Defense have called for educational programs to change the culture of concussion reporting, increase reporting behavior, and enhance ...the safety of players and service members.
To evaluate the effects of a novel peer concussion-education program (PCEP) in changing knowledge, attitudes, and norms about concussion reporting among collegiate student-athletes and assess program implementation.
Randomized controlled trial and qualitative analysis of interviews.
National Collegiate Athletic Association athletic teams from randomly selected colleges or universities.
A total of 1614 male and female student-athletes from 60 teams at 10 colleges and universities and 8 athletic trainers.
The PCEP intervention trains 2 peer concussion educators to provide 2 education modules to their teammates. Knowledge, attitudes (oneself and teammates), and concussion occurrence or reporting were assessed at baseline, postintervention, and 1 month later. Eight athletic trainers were interviewed about program implementation.
Compared with the control group, the intervention group showed greater increases occurred postintervention and at 1 month in concussion knowledge (
= 51.3,
< .0001), intention to report (oneself,
= 82.3,
< .0001; teammates,
= 53.9,
< .0001), return-to-play protocol knowledge, (
= 28.4,
< .0001), direct subjective norms (oneself,
= 51.7,
< .0001; teammates,
= 40.6,
< .0001), direct perceived behavioral control (oneself,
= 53.7,
< .0001; teammates,
= 68.2,
< .0001), and indirect attitudes (oneself,
= 47.1,
< .001; teammates,
= 40.9,
< .0001). Peer concussion-education program participants discussed concussion more often with a teammate (
= 13.96,
< .0001) or athletic staff (
= 6.62,
< .001). Qualitative program analysis revealed both positive aspects of the PCEP and areas for improvement.
The PCEP showed promise in increasing concussion knowledge, intention to report concussion, reporting a teammate's concussion, and facilitating attitudinal changes that support reporting among student-athletes.
To explore diverse stakeholders' perceptions of headgear use in collegiate women's lacrosse.
189 collegiate women's lacrosse stakeholders (players: n = 87; coaches: n = 71; officials: n = 32).
...Participants completed online open-ended qualitative questions surrounding headgear use in the sport. Responses were coded by the research team via inductive reasoning.
Stakeholders felt that incorporating headgear use into women's lacrosse would increase aggression and change the nature of the sport. Some felt that headgear was important for injury risk mitigation and invoked a need for research and development. Stakeholders raised the need for coaching and officiating improvement as primary injury prevention measures. Players were concerned about esthetics and performance limitations. Finally, many felt that it should be left to player choice to wear headgear or not.
Most stakeholders invoke concerns of risk compensation and changing the nature of the sport of women's lacrosse, and are in favor of headgear remaining optional.
To examine the convergent validity of the Test of Effort (TOE), a performance validity test (PVT) currently under development that employs a two-subtest (one verbal, one visual), forced-choice ...recognition memory format.
A descriptive, correlational design was employed to describe performance on the TOE and examine the convergent validity between the TOE and comparison measures.
A sample of 53 individuals with chronic acquired brain injury (ABI) were administered the TOE and three well-validated PVTs (Reliable Digit Span RDS, Test of Memory Malingering TOMM and Dot Counting Test DCT).
The TOE appeared more difficult than it actually was, suggesting adequate face validity. Medium-to-large correlations were observed between the TOE and established PVTs, suggesting good convergent validity. Provisional cutoff scores are offered based on performance of a subgroup of participants with "sufficient effort."
Overall, the TOE shows promise as a PVT measure for clinical use. Future studies with larger and more diverse samples are needed to more fully determine the psychometric characteristics of the TOE.
Controversy exists among collegiate lacrosse about the use of headgear and whether its use will facilitate greater risk compensation by players and thus contribute to unsafe gameplay. We aimed to ...characterize the attitudes of headgear among women's collegiate lacrosse stakeholders. A total of 190 women's lacrosse stakeholders (players: n = 87; coaches: n = 71; officials: n = 32) participated in this study. Participants completed a survey surrounding attitudes of headgear in women's lacrosse. Descriptives, multiple regressions, and Kruskal-Wallis analyses compared attitudes surrounding headgear among stakeholder groups. Scales of Headgear Affects Play (β = -0.38, p < 0.001) and Sports Development and Safety Practices (β = 0.26, p < 0.05) significantly predicted endorsement on Headgear Safety Attitudes Scale. Among players, Aesthetics (β = 0.51, p < 0.001) and Intention to Wear Headgear (β = 0.31, p < 0.05) predicted endorsement on Headgear Safety Attitudes Scale. Stakeholders did not agree if headgear should be worn in women's lacrosse. Items related to sports development, safety and potential changes in gameplay predicted attitudes to headgear safety among all participants.
Investigation of environmental influences on phenotypic expression of diverse genotypes may provide insight into genetic vulnerability to disease and genomic factors involved in the stress response. ...The studies presented use null mutant technology to begin to provide insight into these gene-environment interactions. Specifically, these studies present evidence that environmental stress has a significant effect on learning and memory, locomotion, and neurochemistry which is modulated by genetic background strain and the presence of specific proteins. Across the experiments, 14-days of daily restraint stress generally enhanced both object recognition performance and radial arm maze and had minor if any effects on open field activity or neurotransmitter levels. Notably, significant differences in baseline behavioral performance and neurotransmitter levels between background strains was observed. In addition, this collection of studies has found that calbindin-D28k is an important protein in mediating stress effects on learning and memory and that lack of calbindin-D 28k diminished the ability of the system to counteract harmful effects of stress. Alternately, results from these studies do not indicate that COMT plays a significant role in mediating stress effects on learning or memory. What was revealed in the COMT studies, however, was the importance of background strain in expression of the null mutation. Results presented discuss the implications of these findings relevant to current knowledge of genetic differences, gene-environment interactions, and stress mechanisms.
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