Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Educational Techniques

The awareness of mild traumatic brain injury as a health concern has increased across a multitude of athletic settings due to a plethora of research and clinical findings that indicate the serious threat concussions pose, particularly to young athletes. The need to provide risk reduction and health promotion education to athletes and parents necessitates an innovative approach. This study explores the effectiveness of an educational intervention based on information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to promote awareness regarding the pathophysiology, symptoms, consequences, and prevention of sports-related mild traumatic brain injury. An interactive educational program was administered to student athletes, parents, coaches, and athletic trainers at three public high schools in the midwest. The sample included 147 athletes and 141 parents. Knowledge of the participants was evaluated with a questionnaire created for this study entitled Protecting Athletes from Injury through Knowledge and Education (PIKE) which was administered prior to and following the intervention to determine changes in comprehension and provide direction to design future programs that promote traumatic brain injury awareness. Results showed an increase in mean scores from pretest to posttest in the athlete and parent samples, indicating the educational intervention was effective at increasing knowledge of mild traumatic brain injury