SHORT REPORT

The reliability of team-based primary data collectors for the collection of exposure and protective equipment use data in community sport

R A Braham, C F Finch

Monash University, Prahran, Australia

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor Caroline Finch
NSW Injury Risk Management Research Centre, University of New South Wales, UNSW Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia; c.finch{at}unsw.edu.au

Objective: Reliable data allows for the generalisation of study findings to the wider population. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of using community team based primary data collectors for the collection of exposure and protective equipment use data.

Methods: Nine clubs (23 teams) from a metropolitan Australian Football league in Victoria each provided one primary data collector to monitor exposure and protective equipment use over a regular playing season. Four random audits of this data collection for each team were conducted throughout the regular playing season. The audits were compared with data collected by the club data collectors and the level of agreement assessed.

Results: Although exposure data agreement was higher during competition and protective equipment use agreement higher during training, there was no significant difference in data collected by the primary data collectors and the random audits.

Conclusions: The use of trained data collectors associated with Australian Football teams provides reliable information about player exposure and protective equipment use in community intervention studies.

Abbreviations: AFIPP, Australian Football Injury Prevention Project; PDC, primary data collector

Keywords: community intervention; randomised controlled trial; reliability; trained data collectors

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

BJSM Online case reports
Br. J. Sports Med. 2004 38: 456. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Finch, C, Lloyd, D, Elliott, B (2009). The Preventing Australian Football Injuries with Exercise (PAFIX) Study: a group randomised controlled trial. Inj. Prev. 15: e1-e1 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Abbott, K, Klarenaar, P, Donaldson, A, Sherker, S (2008). Evaluating SafeClub: can risk management training improve the safety activities of community soccer clubs?. Br. J. Sports. Med. 42: 460-465 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Romiti, M, Finch, C F, Gabbe, B (2008). A prospective cohort study of the incidence of injuries among junior Australian football players: evidence for an effect of playing-age level. Br. J. Sports. Med. 42: 441-446 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Finch, C, Braham, R, McIntosh, A, McCrory, P, Wolfe, R (2005). Should football players wear custom fitted mouthguards? Results from a group randomised controlled trial. Inj. Prev. 11: 242-246 [Abstract] [Full Text]