Research Team Awarded SBIR Phase I Grant
Prevention Strategies was recently awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I grant from the NINR (National Institute of Nursing Research) for the proposal “APC: A Collaborative Approach to Reduce Time Between Concussion Symptom Onset and Treatment.”
The award will allow Prevention Strategies to translate empirical evidence into a behavioral intervention targeting Athletes, Parents, and Coaches (APC) to decrease the time between concussion injury, onset of symptoms, and medical treatment among youth sport athletes.
Dr. Jeff Milroy, Director of Programs at Prevention Strategies and Managing Director at The Institute to Promote Athlete Health and Wellness at UNC Greensboro, is leading the research team in the development of the intervention which is targeted for athletes, parents, and coaches; important players in the disclosure process. “There is not a lot of research right now that specifically looks at how parents impact disclosure behaviors of young athletes,” said Dr. Milroy. “Ultimately, our research is about getting athletes to disclose those symptoms as soon as they experience them so that they can receive the medical attention they need.”
“Nearly 4 million sport-related concussions (SRC) are reported annually in the US, and this number has been steadily increasing,” stated David Wyrick, PhD, President of Prevention Strategies. “Our goal with this project is to create digital media messages that target known individual and environmental risk and protective factors related to concussion reporting. Getting athletes into the treatment process as quickly as possible is an important factor to their immediate and long-term well-being”
Aims of this Phase I SBIR project are to collaborate with key stakeholders (e.g., athletes, parents, coaches, scientific experts) to create outlines for digital media messages, review those messages with focus groups to ensure the messages are clearly framed, and provide the intended motivation, develop prototype digital campaigns and asses the feasibility of the prototype in terms of usability, relevance, potential for engagement and appeal to the potential user.