Assessment of Athletic Trainers’ Integration of Patient-Centered Care Behaviors Using a Qualitative Case Vignette

Context Patient-centered care (PCC) has been widely studied in health care. Often, PCC is considered a mindset; however, there are specific behaviors to address in PCC, such as medical interviewing, exploring a patient’s health literacy, and providing patient education. Much of the data specific to PCC relate to patient satisfaction rather than exploring provider behaviors. Objective To assess the extent to which athletic trainers (ATs) create a patient-centered environment using a standardized case vignette and behavior checklist. Design Qualitative procedures with quantitative analysis. Setting Individual, audio-only interview. Patient or Other Participants Twenty-seven ATs (age = 34 ± 10 years; women = 15, men = 12; clinical experience = 10 ± 9 years) from the physician practice (n = 10), college (n = 9), or secondary school (n = 8) setting. Data Collection and Analysis Participants completed a 1-on-1 interview guided by a case vignette. In their verbal response, the participants were asked to share how they would approach care for the patient specific to their job setting, focusing on practical, real-world responses. Two researchers who reviewed each transcript independently scored the responses using the Assessment of Patient-Centered Care Checklist. The trustworthiness of the coding was ensured by using a multianalyst review of the data and an external audit. Results ATs reported several positive behaviors yet lacked an overall PCC approach, with an average score of 26.6% on the tool. No significant differences were identified for ATs based on job setting, years of experience, or highest degree earned. Conclusions Our case vignette design allowed participants to share their approach to PCC through a common orthopedic patient scenario. The data gathered suggested that ATs are aware of the skills and strategies that PCC can use in clinical practice, yet they have the opportunity for improvement. Our data suggest that the lack of behaviors was not job, experience, or education specific, demonstrating the need for profession-wide training and feedback on PCC.