Item Details

title

UNDERSTANDING ATHLETE PERSPECTIVES AND NEUROCOGNITIVE OUTCOMES RELATED TO HEAD KINEMATICS IN YOUTH FOOTBALL

author

Marks, Madison Evelyn

abstract

American football is a widely popular sport that involves regular athlete-to-athlete contact, resulting in head acceleration events (HAEs). Exposure to repetitive, nonconcussive HAEs might alter brain physiology, making it vital to explore determinants and deleterious effects of HAEs. While extensive research has characterized HAEs in youth football, integrating athletes’ perspectives (i.e., qualitative data) with HAE exposure metrics remains relatively unexplored. Additionally, an athlete’s beliefs surrounding concussions might play a role in their HAE exposure. To effectively inform safety efforts (i.e., interventions) in youth football, it is vital to examine athletes’ perspectives and beliefs on playing football and sports-related injuries. The amount of HAE exposure necessary to cause adverse changes in neurocognitive functioning is widely debated, and the effects of interventions designed to reduce HAE exposure on neurocognitive outcomes are not well understood. The primary objectives of this study are to better understand youth athletes’ perspectives on playing football and beliefs surrounding concussions in relation to their HAE exposure, and assess the effectiveness of an intervention, aiming to reduce HAE exposure, at mitigating adverse changes in neurocognitive outcomes.

subject

American Football

Head Kinematics

Health Belief Model

Neurocognitive

Qualitative

contributor

Urban, Jillian E (advisor)

Moore, Justin B (committee member)

Flashman, Laura A (committee member)

Rowson, Steve (committee member)

McGinnis, Ryan S (committee member)

date

2025-06-24T08:36:39Z (accessioned)

2025 (issued)

degree

Biomedical Engineering (discipline)

embargo

2030-05-17 (terms)

2030-05-17 (liftdate)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/111049 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

type

Dissertation