Variability in youth coach concussion education requirements across states.

Abstract

Background: Youth sports coaches play a critical role in proper concussion recognition and management, reinforcing the need for coach concussion education. As of 2021, most states have statutory and policy measures mandating concussion education for coaches. In practice, these mandates have been enacted through state legislatures and their respective youth sport governing bodies. Prior studies have found significant variations in the contents of state-level concussion risk reduction policies and have raised questions about their specificity.

Objective: To expand on previous analyses to provide an overview of youth sports coach concussion education, highlighting variations in state policies and discrepancies between state mandates and youth sport governing bodies.

Methods: This report utilized qualitative content analysis to characterize and compare U.S. state and governing body concussion education requirements for youth sport coaches. State concussion statutes were identified via the National Conference of State Legislatures and Open States databases, and governing body handbooks/bylaws were obtained via their websites. Two researchers independently coded the policies, and discrepancies were resolved through consensus meetings with additional youth traumatic brain injury experts.

Results: We found significant variability in educational requirements and their implementation. A majority (68%; n = 34) of states require the completion of concussion education training for coaches. Notably, many states designate responsibility for enforcement and implementation of provisions to another party but just four state statutes delineate explicit consequences for noncompliance. Additionally, only 12 state statutes extend mandates to noninterscholastic sports, limiting their reach. In most cases, independent sanctioning authorities implement more stringent policies than the minimum acceptable standard established by state law.

Conclusion: Our findings provide a coded data set of youth coach concussion laws and independent sanctioning authority guidelines that can be used in future research efforts. Further research investigating a relationship between the strength of coach concussion education policies and relevant youth and adolescent concussion-related metrics is required.