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Use of sport-related concussion information sources among parents of United States middle school children
Kerr, Z. Y., Chandran, A., Nedimyer, A. K., Rothschild, A. E., Kay, M. C., Gildner, P., Byrd, K. H., Haarbauer-Krupa, J. K., & Register-Mihalik, J. K. (2022). Use of sport-related concussion information sources among parents of United States middle school children. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 11(6), 716-724. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2020.04.008
Objective: Parents may use various information sources to obtain information about sport-related concussions (SRC). This study examined SRC -related information sources used by parents of United States middle school children (age: 10-15 years).Methods: A panel of 1083 randomly selected U.S. residents, aged >18 years and identifying as parents of middle school children, completed an online questionnaire capturing parental and child characteristics, and utilization and perceived trustworthiness of various sources of SRC-related information. Multivariable logistic regression models identified factors associated with utilizing each source. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) excluding 1.00 were deemed significant.Results: Doctors/healthcare providers (49.9%) and other healthcare-related resources (e.g., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, WebMD) (37.8%) were common SRC-related information sources; 64.0% of parents utilized >1 of these sources. Both sources were considered "very" or "extremely" trustworthy for SRC-related information among parents using these sources (doctors/healthcare pro-viders: 89.8%; other healthcare-related resources: 70.9%). A 10-year increase in parental age was associated with higher odds of utiliz-ing doctors/healthcare providers (adjusted odd ratio (ORadjusted) = 1.09, 95%CI: 1.02-1. 16) and other healthcare-related resources (ORadjusted = 1.11, 95%CI: 1.03-1.19 ). The odds of utilizing doctors/healthcare providers (ORadjusted = 0.58, 95%CI: 0.40-0.84) and other healthcare-related resources (ORadjusted = 0.64, 95%CI: 0.44-0. 93) were lower among parents whose middle school children had concussion histories versus the parents of children who did not have concussion histories.Conclusion: One-third of parents did not report using doctors/healthcare providers or other healthcare-related resources for SRC-related informa-tion. Factors associated with underutilization of these sources may be targets for future intervention. Continuing education for healthcare pro-viders and educational opportunities for parents should highlight accurate and up-to-date SRC-related information.