RCTPM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitation2026

Association between concussion-reporting intention and reporting behavior in a simulated game setting.

Niki Konstantinides, Christine M Baugh, Amy Bugwadia and 7 others

PMID 40641417

WHAT IT FOUND

Athletes who intended to report a concussion were more likely to report one in a first-person football simulation.

The link was clear in the educated group and not clear in the non-educated group.

Key findings

01Across both groups, participants who reported the simulated concussion had higher baseline intention scores (U=8669.5, p<0.0001).

02In the educated group, for each one-point increase in baseline reporting intention, the odds of reporting in the simulation increased by a factor of 1.99 (95% CI 1.11 to 3.60, p=0.02).

03In the non-educated group, for each one-point increase in baseline reporting intention, the odds increased by a factor of 1.530 (95% CI 0.97 to 2.41, p=0.07).

STILL TO COME

How it was doneWhat they found

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What it does not show

Only male high school football players from seven teams in a single Colorado region were studied, so the result may not apply to other sports, ages, genders, or regions. The behavior was measured in a video simulation, not in a real game, so it may not fully reflect real-world concussion reporting. The study was cross-sectional at one point in time, so it is unclear whether the intention-behavior link remains stable over time or context. There was no data on whether participants had previously been diagnosed with a concussion or received prior concussion education. This analysis did not compare education groups to test whether the CDC video was associated with reporting, so it cannot be read as evidence that education caused more reporting. The association in the non-educated group was p=0.07, so it should not be treated as a clear finding.

The easy way to misread this

Do not read this as proof that concussion education improves reporting or that simulated behavior equals real-world reporting. The study did not compare education effects, and the non-educated group result was p = 0.07.

Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →


The study

Participants
313 at baseline; one excluded from analyses
Certainty of evidence
Moderate

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    Cite

    Niki Konstantinides, Christine M Baugh, Amy Bugwadia, et al. Association between concussion-reporting intention and reporting behavior in a simulated game setting. PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitation. 2026.

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