Evaluation of the SCAT 5 tool in the assessment of concussion in Para athletes: a Delphi study
Objectives To investigate if the sport concussion assessment tool version 5 (SCAT5) could be suitable for application to Para athletes with a visual impairment, a spinal cord injury, or a limb deficiency. Methods A 16-member expert panel performed a Delphi technique protocol. The first round encompassed an open-ended questionnaire, with round 2 onwards being composed of a series of closed-ended statements requiring each expert’s opinion using a five-point Likert scale. A predetermined threshold of 66% was used to decide whether agreement had been reached by the panel. Results The Delphi study resulted in a four-round process. After round 1, 92 initial statements were constructed with 91 statements obtaining the targeted level of agreement by round 4. The expert panellist completion rate of the full four-round process was 94%. In the case of athletes with a suspected concussion with either limb deficiencies or spinal cord injuries, the panel agreed that a baseline assessment would be ne