Developing a curriculum of person-centered care in athletic training

A person-centered model of healthcare is considered the gold standard of care; however, athletic training continues to operate within a biomedical model of care. More research is needed to understand how to best incorporate person-centered care into the culture of care within athletic training. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a four-part learning module on athletic training students’ understanding, use and perceived use of person-centered care in athletic training. The learning module was incorporated into an existing course on psychosocial aspects of healthcare. Ten students (9 female, 1 male) participated in the study. Study measures included a clinical evaluation observation measuring participants’ use of person-centered care in a clinical setting and a pre-post survey measuring participants’ perceived use of person-centered care in a clinical setting. Results of the paired t-tests on the clinical evaluation observation and pre-post survey items demonstrated a significant improvement in participants’ perceived use of PCC in their clinical practice. Findings indicate that actively incorporating person-centered care into the curriculum of athletic training education can have a significant positive impact on students’ use and perceived use of person-centered care in their clinical practice. More research is needed to explore other educational methods for incorporating person-centered care across the athletic training educational curriculum as well as the impact of a person-centered culture of care on patients and clinical outcomes in athletic training settings