A Look at the Psychological Impact of Concussion in Sports

Introduction

Most sports involve levels of contact. This can lead to injuries that are life-changing. One of these is a concussion. This injury is very in topic right now as it has been linked with a lot of issues later on in life such as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). This disease leads to many mental health issues later on such as depression. This injury occurs through contact which causes the brain rapidly shake about inside the skull. It can be caused by a direct blow to the head or a force which causes the head to move very quickly. This is a very serious injury that has multiple factors that causes it to go hidden and not treated/prevented correctly. The author chose this injury to focus on as he is interested in the injury and how it affects an individual as well as it also links heavily with the second year topic labelled as psychology of sport. The author is interested in primarily the psychological impact and how this affects the brain and the individual from such a complex and common injury that slips through the seams when injuries, as a whole, are spoken about. The psychological effect from this injury is linked into the present and future of the athlete, this makes concussion one of the most dangerous injuries in the author’s eyes.

Aim and Objectives

Aim: To investigate the psychological impact of concussion within contact sports.

• Objective 1: To investigate the impact concussion within contact sports.
• Objective 2: To investigate current prevention strategies on concussion within contact sports.
• Objective 3: To investigate management and care given to athletes who suffer from concussion.

Investigation

The investigation will be carried out through the use of primary and secondary research. The author will reach out to local rugby and American football teams and ask their therapist to complete questions in as much detail as they can. This could then be analysed and used to help with the investigation. Another type of primary research used will be a questionnaire that will be created by the author and placed online for others to complete along with teams in which college students have allowed me to ask their rugby teams to complete. This questionnaire will be generated through the use of Survey Monkey. This will allow a general response from the public and allow me to collate a good amount of data. Lots of desk research will be generated and analysed by the author to assist a final conclusion and to complete the investigation that is in the task. Books and internet articles will help to get information on each objective allowing the author to successfully learn and come to an evaluation on the psychological impact of concussion within sports. These articles are coming through colleges SPORT Discuss along with research conducted on the internet through google searches. Further details about the primary and secondary information in appendix (appendix 1).

Ethical issues

Ethical issues concerning this investigation are data protection and plagiarism. The 1998/2018 Data Protection Act has strict rules which ensure the safety of a participant’s information. This protection ensures an individual’s personal information such as background, sexual orientation, health and other information such as consent for everything that is taking place. Plagiarism, whether it is the authors own reports or other authors work, is a big issue that has to be treated cautiously. The author has previously conducted an investigation involving concussion which means the author has to be careful to not use the same work. To combat plagiarism, the author will need to paraphrase, and use appropriate quotation marks and make sure to give credit to the sources and the authors that work has been used and even looked at.

Negotiated Access

To assist the investigation, the author will attempt to interview a sports therapists to get their opinion and what they have experienced. This may be through a one to one meeting which will be conducted in a negotiated area that makes it easy for us both to get to. An example may be within City of Glasgow College or at the team’s training ground. If a one to one isn’t able to occur, then a part of the initial email will ask if they could answer select questions in as much detail as possible. Along with these two college students have agreed to ask their teams to complete a survey which will be accessed online. This will help the author gain data on the task ahead. Email of negotiated access will be placed in the appendix (appendix 2).

Contingency Plan

If the investigation is unsuccessful then the author will need to change the investigation. This would mean a complete change in aim and objectives. In the case of this the author has a backup prepared. The aim would be “To investigate the psychological impact of an Achilles’ tendon rupture and what is the best way to manage the injury between surgery and non-surgical approaches.” The first objective would be “To investigate the impact of an Achillies’ tendon rupture has in the sport.” The second objective would be “To investigate the management and care given to athletes who suffer from this injury through a non-surgical approach.” The third objective would be “To investigate the management and care given to athletes who suffer from this injury through a surgical approach.” This would only be used if the initial investigation is unable to be completed.