SCIENCE AND MEDIA IN SPORT RELATED TBI

Description: The emergence of sport-related traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a high-profile object of scientific study and health issue has been accompanied by the challenge of communicating important research findings to the public . Many scientists have voiced concerns about the media’s role in fostering public misinformation about the risk and consequences of TBI, while highlighting the tendency for journalists to sensationalize or over-state the conclusiveness of scientific results. Yet sports media remain powerful actors within the processes of knowledge translation in the context of sport-related TBI. This research will entail conducting semi-structured interviews with neuroscientists, neuropsychologists, and journalists with substantial bodies of work related to sports TBI. The primary project objectives are to 1) Analyze the communication processes through which scientists and journalists translate knowledge about sport-related TBI to key stakeholders and public audiences; 2) Identify gaps and inconsistencies between scientific results and media discourses; 3) Create strategies for knowledge mobilization that integrate science, media, and athlete perspectives. By integrating perspectives from both scientists and journalists, this research will cultivate new understandings of the complex challenges related to the dissemination of scientific findings about sport-related TBI to important publics (athletes, coaches, parents) and stakeholders (sports organizations and medical professionals).

Funding Bodies: ICRP / Faculty of Kinesiology

Project years: 2018-2019