Bringing ImPACT Home: Remote versus Traditional Administration for Collegiate Athletes

Abstract

Abstract Background When COVID-19 shut down our once-perceived “normal” societal function, university athletics were forced to change how they conducted concussion baseline screening for their student-athletes. The Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Test (ImPACT) is a prominent assessment tool used amongst university athletic departments for identifying cognitive baseline functioning of collegiate athletes. The current study aimed to evaluate environmental and supervisory effects of neurocognitive baseline performance and overall symptom reports among student-athletes who took the ImPACT baseline assessment in a clinical setting or a remote environment. Results The four univariate ANCOVAs for Verbal Memory (p = 0.787), Visual Memory (p = 0.917), Visual Motor Speed (p = 0.261), and Impulse Control (p = 0.783) were not significantly different between groups. Additionally, the two Quade ANCOVAs for Reaction Time (p = 0.815) and Total Symptom Score (p = 0.886) were not significantly different. Conclusion Preliminary findings provide evidence and support that collegiate athletes can complete their baseline ImPACT in an unsupervised remote location without detriment to their performance.