EXPLORING THE VARIENCES IN CONCUSSION EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCES OF NOVA SCOTIA’S BLACK POPULATIONS

Master of Applied Kinesiology candidate: Michaela Dankwa

26 August 2026

2:30 PM Atlantic

Hybrid Defence

KCIC Meeting Room

Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/285203754190613?p=mmNPwGRjpCBnLfJyDj
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Thesis Committee:

Dr. Colin King, Supervisor
Dr. Kesa Munroe-Anderson, Internal Examiner
Dr. Kaleigh Pennock, Univ. of Waterloo, External Examiner
Dr. Jane Francis, Chair of the defence

Abstract

As a social construct, race impacts every facet of life, including care accessibility, the standard of care given and the overall experience of a racialised individual (Ramsoondar et al, 2023). It is pervasive and rooted at the core of Western medicine and society. This has manifest in a lack of research and investment in exploring the experiences of concussions within Black Canadian populations, among other health concerns. Black Canadians being persons who identify as African, persons of African descent, African Nova Scotian, African Canadian, Afro-Caribbean, Caribbean and others who might be racialised as Black. However, existing literature, frequently in sport-related settings, generally shows that Black populations have less concussion knowledge and typically show lower rates of confirmed diagnosis and poorer concussion recovery outcomes (Care Disparities, n.d.; MacEachern, 2022; Wallace et al., 2020; Wallace et al., 2021). This is seen in functional outcomes as increased disability, lower community
interaction, decreased rates of employment, and negatively impacted quality of life (Saadi et al, 2022).

Based on these gaps in the literature, this research project aims to explore concussion
knowledge and recovery experiences in Nova Scotia’s populations of African Nova Scotian, African descent, Caribbean descent and those racialised as Black.

About Michaela…

Michaela Dankwa is a Master of Applied Kinesiology Research student, supervised by Dr Colin King. Using critical race theory, Michaela’s research explores the concussion education and lived concussion experiences of Nova Scotia’s Black populations.

Michaela’s interest in research began at the University of Ottawa, where she pursued her undergraduate degree in Human Kinetics with an emphasis on social sciences. In recognising that most physical rehabilitation, kinesiology and healthcare literature holds a privileged white gaze that somewhat unknowingly negates personal, social considerations and institutional barriers for people of colour. From her time as a volunteer student athletic trainer, Michaela became curious about the interplay of concussions and race. This work aims to add to the limited Canadian concussion research that considers race and includes the often-discounted voices of Black patients.

While a student at Acadia University, Michaela was also the inaugural Wellness Champion for Acadia’s campus, a S.M.I.L.E. volunteer, a first-cohort member of the Black Brilliance Research Circle, and one of the voices of the Acadia Black student delegation present at the UN PFPAD 5th session in Geneva, Switzerland.