Protecting Players the

College of Education Professor Conducts Research on Concussion Law Compliance

by Aubi Moon

Anew study of Idaho high schools compliance levels in relation to the Idaho Youth Sports Concussion Law sheds light on the importance of continued concussion education and management in secondary schools.

In the Spring 2023 semester, Dr. Caroline Faure, the Human Performance and Sport Studies Department Chair at Idaho State University, provided a 10-year update to the Idaho Youth Sports Concussion Law that she helped pass in 2012. Faure’s study examined the ways in which Idaho’s high schools were addressing the law’s concussion education and concussion management components of removal from play, return to play, and return to learn.

Athletic directors are relied upon in the majority of Idaho schools to manage concussions, so athletic directors from every Idaho high school that sponsored interscholastic athletic activity were invited to participate in the study in 2021. The study found that considerable improvements had been made in Idaho high schools as a result of the passage of the Idaho Youth Sports Concussion Law.

Faure’s study most notably concluded that concussion education efforts had expanded despite little to no funding. Furthermore, Idaho high school athletic directors felt confident in their coaches’ ability to recognize concussions and remove athletes suspected of having