Abstract
Despite the highly publicized and potentially severe consequences of concussion, athletes continue to possess many inaccuracies in concussion-related knowledge. This leads to the presumption that improving athletes' knowledge of concussion is necessary for any injury prevention program. The purpose of this study was to examine the concussion knowledge of CIS football athletes and to compare these findings to those obtained from a similar sample 10 years earlier. A convenience sample of 44 athletes (1999) and 55 athletes (2009) completed the Concussion Questionnaire which examines knowledge of concussion in four categories: Neurologic, 8 items examining knowledge of concussion and the brain; Equipment, 3 items looking at the role of protective equipment (e.g., helmet, cage, mouth guard) in preventing concussion; Recovery, 5 items examining recovery from concussion; and Signs and Symptoms, 9 items looking at knowledge of concussion signs and symptoms. Athletes were asked whether they believed each statement was Definitely True, Probably True, Probably False, or Definitely False. When examining the overall accuracy of the responses, athletes received a grade of F (less than 50% correct) for every category in both years studied. Importantly, the 2009 sample's overall accuracy score in the Neurologic category decreased from 47% to 38% (p < .01). It is clear from these data that education programs regarding concussion are critically needed for this extremely vulnerable population.
