SNS posters 2021

While previous research has focused on understanding sport-related concussion (SRC) through quantitative methods, much less is known about the impacts of SRC from the athlete’s perspective. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to explore athletes’ lived experiences of SRC symptoms through qualitative methods. To do so, we recruited 11 Canadian university varsity soccer (n = 5) and rugby (n = 6) athletes between the ages of 18 and 22 (M = 20.66 years, SD = 1.43 years; 45% female). All athletes had experienced at least one SRC within the last 26 months (M = 16.73 months, SD = 1.94 months) and their number of lifetime concussions ranged from one to eight (Mdn = 4). Athletes completed semi-structured interviews using Part II of the Sports and Concussion: Research on Executive Systems (SCoRES) interview guide. All interviews were conducted via Zoom teleconferencing. The qualitative data analysis software ‘NVivo’ (version 12) was used to organize, prepare, and aid in our analysis of transcribed interviews. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify patterns across athletes’ experiences of SRC symptoms. From this, four salient themes were identified:

(1) Immediate Disorientation. Disorientation was the first symptom experienced by 90% of athletes. As such, it was often described as the internal cue signalling to athletes that they were likely concussed (e.g., “as soon as I hit the pole, I was just like, what happened?… as soon as I hit it, I knew something was definitely wrong”).

(2) Prolonged Emotional Difficulties. Athletes experienced emotional difficulties (e.g., depressive and anxious symptoms) throughout their recoveries, with general emotional dysregulation being the most salient feature. Emotional difficulties were often described as a continuing struggle (e.g., “since my concussion, I have been diagnosed with anxiety and depression”).

(3) Prolonged Memory Impairments. Athletes experienced chronic issues with short-term and long-term memory that persisted months to years post-SRC. Athletes described these deficits with a sense of permanency (e.g., “my memory honestly, I don’t think it’s the same”), demonstrating that they view their impaired memory as an irreversible outcome of SRC.

(4) Executive Dysfunction. Post-SRC executive dysfunction was characterized primarily by issues in ‘higher-order’ executive abilities such as planning (e.g., “I have difficulty planning”) and decision-making (e.g., “I am a lot slower on decision-making”). Executive dysfunction was transient for some athletes and prolonged for others.

Additionally, the complementary finding of long-term difficulties with speech articulation was uncovered as a unique symptom of SRC for a subgroup (n = 4; 36%) of athletes. Speech difficulties were characterized by stuttering (e.g., “developed a bit of a stutter”) and impaired word-finding (e.g., “I’m a lot slower, like choosing words now”).

Our qualitative approach allowed us to analyze multiple domains of SRC symptoms while capturing their impact on athletes’ overall psychosocial functioning. Altogether, our findings demonstrate that athletes are struggling to cope with the consequences of SRC far past the acute phases. Athletes’ experiences of long-lasting symptoms demonstrate the need for a more on-going, comprehensive approach to treating concussion in sport.

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