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Response of School Districts to the New York State Concussion Awareness and Management Act: Review of Policies and Procedures
Author(s) -
Kajankova Maria,
Oswald Jennifer M.,
Terranova Lauren M.,
Kaplen Michael V.,
Ambrose Anne F.,
Spielman Lisa A.,
Gordon Wayne A.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of school health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.851
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1746-1561
pISSN - 0022-4391
DOI - 10.1111/josh.12508
Subject(s) - compliance (psychology) , demographics , legislation , concussion , state (computer science) , medicine , school district , occupational safety and health , injury prevention , environmental health , poison control , psychology , family medicine , political science , demography , law , social psychology , sociology , pedagogy , algorithm , computer science
BACKGROUND By 2014, all states implemented concussion laws that schools must translate into daily practice; yet, limited knowledge exists regarding implementation of these laws. We examined the extent to which concussion management policies and procedure (P&P) documents of New York State school districts comply with the State's Concussion Awareness and Management Act (the Act). We also aimed to identify barriers to compliance. METHODS Forty‐seven school districts provided P&P documents. We examined compliance with the Act and the relationship between compliance and each district's demographics. RESULTS Compliance varied across school districts, with higher overall compliance in large city school districts compared to county districts. However, there was low compliance for several critical items. We found no statistically significant relationship between compliance and demographics. CONCLUSIONS School districts need to increase compliance with concussion legislation to ensure the adequate implementation necessary for the law to impact health and educational outcomes. The results provide important information to individuals charged with the responsibility of implementation and ultimately reducing the negative outcomes associated with brain injuries in schools.