Citation

Otomo M, Torii S, Fukubayashi T. Br. J. Sports Med. 2014; 48(7): 648-649.

Affiliation

Graduated School of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1136/bjsports-2014-093494.235

PMID

24620276

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have emphasized the concussion education for all individuals who are involved in school sanctioned athletic activities. OBJECTIVE: (1) to investigate current knowledge and awareness of concussion among junior high school teachers and coaches; and (2) to assess the effectiveness of educational intervention on concussion for junior high school teachers and coaches. DESIGN: Questionnaire study (retrospective data). "Heads Up: Concussion in Youth Sports" and "Pocket SCAT 2" were translated to Japanese by the researcher and used in the educational intervention. SETTING: This study setting was youth sports. PARTICIPANTS: 122 junior high school teachers and coaches. INTERVENTIONS: We did a survey immediately before and after lecture on the same day. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: The questionnaire showed 34 percent of the participants reported the concussions of the students in their activities. Also, compared with PE and nursing teachers, other teachers had less awareness of the concussions. RESULTS: Participants might have misconceptions on the concussions; thus there were potentially more participants whose students experienced the concussions. At the lecture, there were high satisfaction levels with items that the participants wanted to know in the lecture. It was necessary to consider the time when to start the lecture and length of the lecture. Furthermore, the questionnaire taken after the lecture showed lack of the knowledge on the concussion; thus the lecture could have great effectiveness to the individuals related to student-athletes' activity. CONCLUSION: All participants might have misconceptions on the concussions. But their knowledge and attitude toward concussion was heightened by our lecture. In future research, it is important to increase subjects of the questionnaire and to identify effectiveness of long-term lectures. Furthermore, subjects of future research should involve student-athletes and their parents in order for all individual who related to athletic activities to obtain proper knowledge and awareness of the concussion.

Language: en