Search

Abstract: Concussion in sports has become one of the main concerns for the health of athletes (McCrory et al., 2017). In response, preventative initiatives have been put in place to educate the public about concussion management (Mrazik, Dennison, Brooks, Yeates, Babul, & Naidu, 2015). Despite attempts to further the public’s knowledge of concussion, research reveals that athletes often fail to report concussions to authority figures (Delaney, Caron, Correa, & Bloom, 2018; Williamson & Goodman, 2006). Therefore, my study builds on existing research examining psychological factors relevant to athletes reporting concussions. Current Study: The purpose of this study was to examine concussion reporting intention from the theory of planned behaviour and a stress-response to injury framework. Constructs from these theories were used in predicting intentions, delay, and the actual behaviour of reporting concussion symptoms. Methods: In this cross-sectional quantitative design, data was collected via convenience-sampling methods from 113 junior varsity athletes playing team sports at the University of Alberta. Inferential statistics included multiple regression models predicting both an athlete’s reporting intention and the anticipated delay of reporting. Subsequent analyses included logistic regression models in predicting the actual occurrence of athletes’ reporting their concussion. Findings: Results provide support for my proposed models using constructs from the theory of planned behaviour and the stress-response to injury model to predict reporting intention (F(5,102)= 7.01, p < .001, R2 = .26) and an anticipated reporting delay (F(5,103)= 10.35, p < .001, R2 = .33). Perceived control in reporting concussions and emotional help seeking coping were found to have significant associations with greater intentions for reporting and lower delays in anticipated reporting times. Logistic regression analyses reveal that reporting intentions and perceived control in reporting were significantly predictive of an athlete reporting they had a “bell ringer” in the previous season (χ2 (2) = 6.04, p < .05). Implications, limitations and directions for future research are discussed in relation to the existing literature.