Australian football players’ preferred sources of concussion information (listed in terms of decreasing importance)*
| Preferences | Organisation or professionals who should be responsible for disseminating concussion information and resources of the preferred types | ||||
| Coaches/sports trainers† | Medical doctors‡ | Clubs/associations | Lead sport body§ | Peak sports medicine agency¶ | |
| Clubs/coaches and trainers/league officials | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Seminars/information sessions at the start of season involving all players/teams/clubs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Posters displayed in club rooms, change rooms, etc. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Players who have previously been concussed to share their experiences | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Doctors/hospitals (interestingly, they also doubt the expertise of most medical practitioners in relation to concussion7) | ✓ | ||||
| Hardcopy documents | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Mass/social media | ✓ | ✓ | |||
*Information obtained during three focus groups as reported in White et al.6
†In Australia, sports trainers are trained volunteers providing sports first aid and initial injury assessment at the sports sideline.
‡In community sport, it is unusual to have a sports doctor attached to sports teams so this would be a doctor with generalist medical qualifications only. In the US sporting system, this role may be filled by certified athletic trainers.
§In our work, this would be the Australian Football League. International equivalents would be FIFA, World Rugby Union, etc.
¶In Australia, this would be Sports Medicine Australia. International equivalents are the American College of Sports Medicine, British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine, South African Sports Medicine Association, etc.