Sport-related concussion knowledge, attitudes, and reporting intentions in female Australian football players

Despite growing participation of young females in Australian football (AF), literature on concussion knowledge (CK), attitudes (CA), and reporting intentions (CRI) has focused on male athletes and adult populations. Understanding how female AF athletes perceive concussion risk, their willingness to report symptoms, and their knowledge about concussion, is essential for designing targeted injury prevention and education initiatives. This cross-sectional survey study utilised the Rosenbaum Concussion Knowledge and Attitude Survey Student version (RoCKAS-ST) to examine the CK, CA, and CRI of female AF players. Descriptive statistics, multiple one-way ANOVA, and multiple regression analyses were utilised to profile survey results, examine competition level differences, and explore associations between athlete / demographic variables and survey domains (CK, CA, and CRI). Overall, 132 Tier 3 (highly trained) female AF players from two youth and one open-age (OA) team/s on the eastern coast of Australia participated in the study. Mean scores for CK and CA increased by competition level, CK; Under-16 (U16) 18.66 ± 2.29, 95% CI [17.87–19.44], Under-19 (U19) 19.08 ± 2.12, 95% CI [18.47–19.69], OA 20.06 ± 1.83, 95% CI [19.53–20.59] and CA; U16 59.26 ± 7.20, 95% CI [56.78–61.73], U19 62.12 ± 7.42, 95% CI [59.99–64.26], OA 65.94 ± 5.50, 95% CI [64.34–67.53]. Significant differences in CK, CA, and CRI scores were observed between the U16 and OA cohorts (p < 0.05). Differences were also observed in the U19 and OA CA scores and the U16 and U19 CRI scores (p < 0.05). Across all competition levels combined, CA was strongly related to CRI (r(132) = .557, p < 0.001), however, there was no significant relationship between CK and CRI. Multiple regression analysis revealed age was significantly and positively associated with CK and CA scores in female AF players (β = 0.31, p < 0.01) and in the presence of CK, age, and other demographic variables, CA had a strong association with CRI (R2 = 0.386, p < 0.001). Future research should explore potential barriers to SRC reporting using robust methods of CRI evaluation, explore competition level differences in RoCKAS-ST domain across a broader range of AF competitions, further explore variables that may influence CA and CRI, and determine if targeted CA initiatives post-SRC in female AF players are effective.