Discordance in injury reporting between youth-athletes, their parents and coaches

J Sci Med Sport. 2009 Nov;12(6):633-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jsams.2008.06.001. Epub 2008 Jul 24.

Abstract

Hiring experienced health professionals to collect data on sport injuries is expensive, limits resources, and may be prohibitive for surveillance studies. The objective of this study was to obtain pilot data on whether youth self-report deserves further study. We followed 67 recreational and elite soccer players aged 11-17 for one season and compared responses of injured players with those of their parents/coaches. We defined our main outcome of discordance as any disagreement in responses between the youth, parent and coach (triad). When one person didn't know the answer, we categorised the responses as "concordance" if the other two members agreed. We omitted data when two people responded "Don't Know". Of 10 injuries that could be analysed, 29/30 interviews occurred within 21 days. For factual questions analysed, there was 100% concordance for the type and side of injury, and place where the injury occurred. There were 1-2 discordant triads for each of time of day, activity during injury and specific body part injured. There were greater discordances for date of injury, first-aid treatment, and opinions concerning underlying reasons for the injury. Interview-report by youth themselves should be explored as a possible low cost method of documenting youth sport injuries.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Attitude to Health*
  • Child
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Interviews as Topic
  • Male
  • Parents*
  • Pilot Projects
  • Quebec
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Self Disclosure*
  • Soccer / injuries*