title: Reach and knowledge change among coaches and other participants of the online course: "concussion in sports: what you need to know".
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the reach of the Heads Up "Concussion in Sports: What You Need to Know," online course and to assess knowledge change.
  
  
  METHODS
  Online.
  
  
  METHODS
  Individuals who have taken the free online course since its inception in May 2010 to July 2013.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive, uncontrolled, before and after study design.
  
  
  METHODS
  Reach is measured by the number of unique participants and the number of times the course was completed by state and sport coached and the rate of participation per 100,000 population by state. Knowledge change is measured by the distribution and mean of pre- and posttest scores by sex, primary role (e.g., coach, student, and parent), and sport coached.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Between May 2010 and July 2013, the online concussion course was completed 819,223 times, reaching 666,026 unique participants, including residents from all US states and the District of Columbia. The distribution of overall scores improved from pre- to posttests, with 21% answering all questions correctly on the pretest and 60% answering all questions correctly on the posttest.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Online training can be effective in reaching large audiences and improving knowledge about emerging health and safety issues such as concussion awareness.
authors.affiliation: Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia (Drs Parker, Gilchrist, and Lee, and Ms Sarmiento); and National Federation of State High School Associations, Indianapolis, Indiana (Mr Schuster).
authors.forename: Erin M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gilchrist
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sarmiento
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001924:Brain Concussion / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002648:Child; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction; D065187:Controlled Before-After Studies; D003479:Curriculum; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014481:United States