To evaluate a Western Australian mouthguard promotion campaign, launched at the start of the 1997/98 junior rugby union and junior basketball seasons, aimed at increasing mouthguard usage at competition and training.
Method:
A quasi‐experimental field design was used to assess the impact of the mouthguard campaign on behavioural change. Observational data were collected pre‐and post‐campaign on mouthguard usage by players present at a rugby and basketball competition event and at a training session. Junior Australian Rules Football players were used as a control group.
Results:
Pre‐post observational surveys showed a significantly greater increase in mouthguard usage in competition games among rugby union (77% to 84%) and basketball players (23% to 43%) compared with the control group (72% to 73%). All codes showed a post‐campaign increase in mouthguard usage at training, but the intervention codes' increases were greater than the control's increase (rugby union: 29% to 40%; basketball: 11% to 36%; football: 34% to 40%). Conclusions: The campaign had a significant and substantial effect on behaviour and provides evidence of the benefits of leveraging a sponsorship to modify the behaviour of the target group.
Implications:
This campaign provides a model for promoting mouthguard usage in other sports among junior players.
