You are here

Article Text

Article menu

Download PDFPDF

XML
Original article
Educational concussion module for professional footballers: from systematic development to feasibility and effect
  1. Vincent Gouttebarge1,2,3,4,
  2. Charlotte Cowie5,
  3. Edwin Goedhart6,
  4. Simon P T Kemp7,
  5. Gino M M J Kerkhoffs2,3,
  6. Jon Patricios8,
  7. Keith A Stokes7,9
  1. 1World Players’ Union (FIFPro), Hoofddorp, Netherlands
  2. 2Amsterdam UMC, Univ of Amsterdam, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Meibergdreef 9, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  3. 3Amsterdam Collaboration on Health & Safety in Sports (ACHSS), AMC/VUmc IOC Research Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  4. 4Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
  5. 5The Football Association, London, UK
  6. 6Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB), FIFA Medical Center of Excellence, Zeist, Netherlands
  7. 7Rugby Football Union, Twickenham, UK
  8. 8School of Therapeutic Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
  9. 9Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Vincent Gouttebarge; v.gouttebarge{at}amc.uva.nl

Abstract

Objectives To describe: (1) how we developed a concussion module and (2) whether the concussion module is feasible (in terms of relevance, added value and suitability) and enhances knowledge and changes attitude of professional footballers about concussion.

Developing the concussion module We developed the concussion module based on two structured and systematic processes. First, our needs assessment (questionnaire and interviews) in professional football (especially players) revealed that a 5–10 min concussion module was needed, ideally disseminated during club visits. Second, the objectives were defined (from published literature and by experts) as to disseminate essential information about what concussion is (definition), how to recognise it and the importance of removing a player with (suspected) concussion from the football field. We included an introductory video featuring a high-profile professional footballer and an animated educational component on defining concussion, recognising it and removing affected players from the field.

Feasibility and effect A quasiexperimental study (pretest post-test design) was conducted among 61 professional footballers. These players were asked to complete two questionnaires related to knowledge about and attitude towards concussion and feasibility of the module: one before and one after viewing the concussion module. Potential increase in knowledge and attitude was explored by comparing the pretest and post-test scores of the Rosenbaum Concussion Knowledge and Attitudes Survey with the non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test (p<0.05). The mean knowledge score of the participants was stable between tests (Z=213; p=0.16), while mean attitude score increased significantly (Z=331; p=0.01). Nearly all participants (85%–100%) were positive about the relevance, added value, duration and form of the concussion module.

Conclusion The developed educational concussion module leads to better attitude of professional footballers towards concussion.

  • concussion
  • soccer
  • behaviour
  • education

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2018-000490

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Correction notice This article has been corrected since it first published online. The open access licence type has been amended.

    • Contributors VG was responsible for the systematic approach of the development of the concussion module. All authors contributed to the expert panel and were involved in the development of the concussion module. VG was responsible for the design of the feasibility study, data collection, data analysis, interpretation of data and preparation of the manuscript. All other authors were responsible for the critical review of the feasibility study (design, interpretation of data) and the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.