Development of a tailored concussion education program for athletes: a pragmatic multimethods design and integrated knowledge translation approach from needs assessment to design

Abstract

Objectives To understand Canadian university athletic programme concussion management needs, and to describe development and content of a tailored online concussion education tool for Canadian university/college athletes.Design An integrated knowledge translation multiphased, multimethods approach was used. Phases included a needs assessment survey with university representatives and athletes, content selection, mapping behavioural goals to evidenced-based behaviour change techniques, script/storyboard development, engagement interviews with university athletes and tool development using user-centred design techniques.Setting Canadian U SPORTS universities (n=56).Participants Overall, 64 university representatives (eg, administrators, clinicians) and 27 varsity athletes (52% male, 48% female) completed the needs assessment survey. Five athletes participated in engagement interviews.Outcome measures Surveys assessed previous athlete concussion education, recommendations for concussion topics and tool design, concussion management challenges and interest in implementing a new course.Results Institutions used a median (Med) of two (range 1–5) approaches when educating athletes about concussion. Common approaches were classroom-style education (50%), online training (41%) and informational handouts (39%). University representatives rated most important topics as: (1) what is a concussion, (2) how to recognise a concussion and (3) how to report a concussion (Medall=4.8/5). Athletes felt symptom recognition (96%) and effects on the brain (85%) were most important. The majority of athletes preferred learning via computer (81%) and preferred to learn alone (48%) versus group learning (7%). The final resource was designed to influence four behaviours: (1) report symptoms, (2) seek care, (3) encourage teammates to report symptoms and (4) support teammates through concussion recovery. Examples of behaviour change techniques included: knowledge/skills, problem-solving scenarios, verbal persuasion and social comparison. Athletes are guided through different interactions (eg, videos, flip cards, scenarios, testimonials) to maximise engagement (material review takes ~30 min).Conclusions The Concussion Awareness Training Tool for athletes is the first Canadian education tool designed to address the needs of Canadian university/college athletes.