Understanding organization structures of the college, university, high school, clinical, and professional settings

Call It an "Evolution": Promoting Student-Athlete Well-Being During the Transition From Collegiate Sport

After highly publicized stories of student-athletes' struggles with mental health, the spotlight on mental health and well-being in this special issue coincides with a broader growing concern for the long-term impact of competitive sport participation on student-athlete health and wellness. The end of a competitive sport career represents a potentially vulnerable life transition. As demonstrated in the literature, the unique aspects of elite sport culture shape student-athletes' perceptions of their identity, health, and health behaviors, which have implications for how student-athletes navigate their health and well-being as they transition away from the embedded health care structure inherent to elite sport. Given evidence indicating that student-athletes may face mental and physical health concerns after retirement from sports, targeted transitional strategies are needed to provide patient-centered care in this population. In this article, we briefly summarize current understanding of sport transition and highlight some key findings from studies conducted by the contributing authors' research groups exploring the impact of sport career transitions on student-athlete well-being. We also reflect on limitations of the existing research and transition models and, in turn, propose potential directions for adopting a nuanced and multidimensional framework to explore interconnected transition domains. We conclude by offering recommendations for sports medicine professionals to consider in future research, programming, and policies to promote student-athletes' holistic well-being through this critical transition.

Athletic trainer employment, physician access and care delivery in secondary schools

Objective: To evaluate the source of employment of athletic trainers (ATs), access to team physicians, and usage of up-to-date (implementation of the most current international sports medicine societies' position statements and evidence-based literature policy and procedure manuals in secondary schools. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) members. NATA 'Research Survey Request' was contacted to obtain 1,000 e-mail addresses of ATs who actively worked in the secondary school setting. We evaluated AT employment, access to team physicians, and usage of up-to-date policy and procedure manuals within different residential areas (urban, suburban, and rural) and school distinctions (public vs. private). Results: Two-hundred ninety-six responses were received (30% response rate). The majority (72%) of ATs reported having an assigned team physician for their school. Approximately one-third (36%) of ATs reported being employed by a hospital, clinic, or outreach facility. Fifty-one percent of ATs reported having a policy and procedure manual that was developed and reviewed with their team physician. There was a significantly greater amount of suburban ATs who reported having an up-to-date policy and procedure manual (urban 45% vs. suburban 60% vs. rural 39%; p = 0.007). Significantly more ATs who were employed in a public school setting reported conducting annual policy and procedure manual reviews than those employed in private school settings (public 63% vs. private 49%; p = 0.045). Conclusions: The majority of ATs have assigned team physicians and a third is employed by a medical group. A high number of ATs reported not having a policy and procedure manual that was developed and reviewed with their team physician. Sports medicine teams within secondary schools, particularly in private schools, should strive to develop and maintain an up-to-date policy and procedure manual that is frequently reviewed with their team physician.