ABSTRACT
CONTEXT: Athletic trainers were critical personnel in the development of policies and procedures for safe return to campus and resumption of sport during the 2021-21 academic year. Policies focused on preventing potential spread, as well as screening, testing, and management of cases, however, it is unknown what aspects of implementation were successful or more challenging. OBJECTIVE: To determine successes and challenges in the implementation of their return-to- sport policies and procedures during the 2020-2021 academic year amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN: Qualitative. SETTING: NCAA Division I, II, and III. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: 27 athletic trainers (female N=9, 33.3%, mean age: 48.5±9.8 20 years, mean years of experience: 25.0±10.5 years), who were in positions of leadership or who 21 were actively involved in developing and then implementing COVID-19 return to sport policies 22 and procedures completed Zoom interviews. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Semi-structured Zoom interviews were audio and video recorded and later transcribed. Data were analyzed by a team of four experienced researchers using the consensual qualitative research approach. Field notes, intercoder reliability, and multiple analyst triangulation were used to establish data credibility. RESULTS: Emerging themes included: implementation of public health interventions, inter-professional collaboration, and advancing the profession of athletic training. Participants described establishing and strengthening collaborations with other healthcare professionals as well as key stakeholders on campus as a positive outcome of the pandemic, but variation in policies between institutions and states made policy communication and enforcement more challenging. CONCLUSIONS: ATs played a pivotal role in policy development, communication, and enforcement. Overall participants took pride in serving as healthcare leaders for their universities and opening the eyes of colleagues to the breadth of the athletic training skillsets.
ABSTRACT
Despite a call to incorporate patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) into all aspects of health care, little is known about which instruments are best suited for a pediatric patient population with sport-related injury. The objective of this article was to perform a systematic review of the currently available evidence to determine which PROMs were used for pediatric patients with sport-related injuries and identify the associated psychometric properties and considerations for clinical utility. We conducted a literature search for articles on PROMs used in the pediatric population through electronic databases and a manual search of reference lists and authors between from inception to 2020. Articles were grouped based on the PROM(s) included, and considerations for clinical utility and psychometric properties were extracted from each article. Thirty-nine articles were included in this review, from which 22 PROMs were identified: 12 PROMs were developed specifically for the pediatric population, 4 were modified versions of an adult scale, and 6 were adult measures used in a pediatric population. Of the PROMs included in this review, the Oxford Ankle Foot Questionnaire for Children and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory were the most comprehensive in their development and assessment. Several outcome measures used for pediatric patients had missing or inadequate measurement properties and considerations for clinical utility, particularly in regard to readability, responsiveness, and interpretability. Clinicians and researchers should consider a measure's feasibility, acceptability, appropriateness, and psychometric properties when selecting a PROM for use with the pediatric population.