| Title |
What can family medicine providers learn about concussion non-disclosure from former collegiate athletes?
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
BMC Primary Care, July 2018
|
| DOI | 10.1186/s12875-018-0818-2 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Elizabeth A. Beverly, Todd R. Fredricks, Andrew Leubitz, Benjamin R. Oldach, Daniel Kana, Michael D. Grant, Jonathon Whipps, Emily H. Guseman |
| Abstract |
Despite the risks, concussion symptoms often go underreported by athletes, leading to delayed or forgone treatment and increased potential for concussion recurrence. One of the most serious long-term consequences of sports-related concussions is Chronic Traumatic Encephelopathy (CTE), a disorder associated with progressive neurological deterioration. The purpose of this study was to explore former collegiate athletes' understanding of concussions and motivations behind concussion non-disclosure in order to better assist family medicine providers in screening for and managing a history of concussions. Informed by the theoretical framework Social Cognitive Theory, we conducted focus groups with former collegiate athletes using a field-tested discussion guide. Discussions were transcribed, coded, and analyzed via content and thematic analyses using NVivo 10 software. Thirty-two former collegiate athletes (24.5 ± 2.9 years old, 59.4% female, 87.5% white) participated in 7 focus groups. Three predominant themes emerged: 1) Concussions are Part of the Game: Participants believed that concussions were part of sports, and that by agreeing to play a sport they were accepting the inherent risk of concussions. Importantly, many were not familiar with concussion symptoms and what constituted a concussion; 2) Hiding Concussion Symptoms: Participants said they often hid concussion symptoms from coaches and trainers in order to avoid being taken out of or missing games. Participants were able to hide their concussions because most symptoms were indiscernible to others; and 3) Misconceptions about Concussions in Low Contact Sports: Several participants did not understand that concussions could occur in all sports including low contact or noncontact sports. The former athletes who participated in low contact sports and experienced concussions attributed their concussions to personal clumsiness rather than their sport. Family medicine providers as well as coaches, athletic trainers, teachers, and parents/guardians should reinforce the message that concussions can occur in all sports and inform patients about the signs and symptoms of concussions. Further, providers should ask all patients if they engaged in high school or collegiate athletics; and if yes, to describe their hardest hit to their head in order to obtain a complete medical history. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 21 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 12 | 57% |
| Canada | 3 | 14% |
| India | 1 | 5% |
| Denmark | 1 | 5% |
| Unknown | 4 | 19% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 14 | 67% |
| Scientists | 4 | 19% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 3 | 14% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 93 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 93 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Master | 13 | 14% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 10 | 11% |
| Student > Bachelor | 9 | 10% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 6 | 6% |
| Lecturer | 4 | 4% |
| Other | 16 | 17% |
| Unknown | 35 | 38% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine and Dentistry | 12 | 13% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 9 | 10% |
| Sports and Recreations | 8 | 9% |
| Psychology | 7 | 8% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 4 | 4% |
| Other | 15 | 16% |
| Unknown | 38 | 41% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 13. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 08 February 2019.
All research outputs
#2,718,226
of 25,385,509 outputs
Outputs from BMC Primary Care
#331
of 2,359 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#53,069
of 341,510 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Primary Care
#7
of 67 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,385,509 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 89th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,359 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.7. This one has done well, scoring higher than 85% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 341,510 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 84% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 67 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 89% of its contemporaries.