Assistant Professor Traci Snedden, PhD, RN, CPNP-PC, CNE, has been selected as a recipient of the 2020 NCAA Innovations in Research and Practice Grant. The grant program supports research and data-driven pilot projects designed to enhance student-athlete psychosocial well-being and mental health, and creates sustainable models that can be adopted by other institutions.
“Academic performance for collegiate student-athletes is a critical component of overall achievement,” says Snedden. “However, sport-related concussions may pose a risk to success, as they can cause alterations in cognitive ability that result in learning challenges. Recent guidelines encourage ‘return to learn’ plans that support a student-athlete’s learning needs. However, there is little data-driven guidance regarding how to best implement these plans. This project will allow us to design a toolkit using data that examines implementation at the campus level, instructional team involvement, and the quality of the student-athlete experience.”