Use of Helmets in Snow Sports: Attitudes and Beliefs

Are you a skier or snowboarder?

Do you wear a helmet when you are skiing and/or snowboarding?

Or do you hate the idea of them?

Do you think they helmets are over-hyped or under-promoted?

Although fatalities from snow sports are quite rare, the primary cause of death is traumatic brain injury either on its own or in combination with other injuries. There is evidence to suggest that the use of helmets may reduce the risk of serious head injuries by as much as 50%. Nevertheless, use of helmets varies widely across regions with uptake as low as 12% in some areas. The patterns of helmet usage also vary with some people wearing them whenever they ski or snowboard whilst others use helmets only occasionally.

As part of a study that tries to discover some of the reasons why people may or may not wear helmets when they are skiing and/or snowboarding, a questionnaire has been designed that seeks your personal opinions about the use of helmets in snow sports. Please would you make your opinions known by completing this questionnaire, which can be found at http://www.fahs.surrey.ac.uk/survey/helmetuse/.

In order to understand your perspective about the use of helmets for snow sports, the questionnaire also asks questions about your snow sports experience, your current helmet use, your risk perceptions and attitudes towards sensation seeking. The questionnaire may take up to 20 minutes to complete, but as we are interested in your immediate reactions to various statements you should avoid spending too long on any one question.

Confidentiality

All the responses to this survey are completely confidential and will be completely anonymous since no identifying information is collected. The data will be treated in the strictest confidence and will be seen only by the research team.

This study is being conducted by Mary Ondrusz (email: mo00044@surrey.ac.uk) under the supervision of Dr Victoria Senior (email: V.Senior@surrey.ac.uk) as part of an MSc research project in health psychology at the University of Surrey.

We would really appreciate your participation in this study and hope that you will find it interesting. The questionnaire can be found at http://www.fahs.surrey.ac.uk/survey/helmetuse/.

Many thanks for your time.

If you have any queries about this study, please contact Mary Ondrusz or Dr Senior at the email addresses given above. To complete the questionnaire, please go to http://www.fahs.surrey.ac.uk/survey/helmetuse/. (If this link does not work, please copy and paste into your web browser bar.)

The Teachers Guide to Snowsports

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Download the Teachers Guide to Snowsport

Snowlife

Snowlife is an information resource on all aspects of UK snowsport, with specific information aimed at schools and teachers.