Athlete Perceptions of the Concussion Assessment Battery

Undergraduate: Destinee Grove

Faculty Advisor: Johna Register-Mihalik
Department: Exercise & Sport Science

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As the multimodal approach to concussion assessment continues to develop, more time and attention are needed to complete a comprehensive assessment. This study is necessary to understand recreational athletes' perceptions of the concussion assessment battery (CAB) in order to inform use and interpretation of clinical results. All participants (Females=25; Males=5; ages 18-25) completed a comprehensive CAB including an assessment of symptoms, neurocognition, visual/vestibular function, and balance. Participants then completed a CAB opinion survey. Descriptive statistics were utilized to describe athlete perceptions. Overall, 66.7% (20/30) agreed that the battery was easy. Additionally, there was a significant, but weak correlation (r= -0.28, p=0.03) between total attitude score (TAS) and visual memory, such that the more positive a person¿¿¿s attitudes toward the overall battery, the worse their visual memory for geometric shapes. This work highlights that positive perceptions and attitudes toward the CAB do not always correlate with positive performance, and indicates that perceptions of and attitudes toward the CAB may not matter for success on the test. Therefore, it may not be clinically effective to change their perceptions to improve baseline performance. Future work should investigate factors that may influence performance and administration as well as how these factors may change post-concussion.