Delivering Patient-Centered Care With Respect to Patient Education and Health Literacy in Athletic Training Job Settings.

Abstract

Context: A patient-centered care (PCC) environment allows athletic trainers (ATs) to develop trusting relationships with patients, enabling them to make the most informed care decisions. To provide PCC, the AT should assess health literacy and deliver quality patient education.

Objective: To explore the lived experiences of ATs from different job settings to identify how they deliver PCC specific to health literacy and patient education.

Design: Qualitative.

Setting: Virtual interviews.

Patients or other participants: Twenty-seven ATs (age = 34 ± 10 years; women = 15, men = 12) from the physician practice (n = 10), college (n = 9), and secondary school (n = 8) settings.

Main outcome measure(s): We interviewed the participants using a semistructured interview protocol. Three researchers coded the transcripts after the consensual qualitative research process for each job setting. Trustworthiness was achieved through multianalyst triangulation, member checking, and internal auditing.

Results: Four domains emerged from all interviews: (1) work environment, (2) essential traits and skills, (3) health literacy assessment strategies, and (4) patient education materials and delivery. In the work environment, ATs described the patient load, interprofessional relationships, and patient characteristics across settings. Essential traits and skills varied widely between settings, and ATs needed different strategies based on differing patient needs. For health literacy assessment strategies, ATs did not formally assess health literacy and relied on perceptions and assumptions. Effective digital information and health informatics strategies were described for patient education materials and delivery.

Conclusions: ATs from physician practice, college, and secondary school settings describe using various strategies to create a patient-centered environment. Participants shared their behaviors in assessing health literacy and delivering patient education from various job settings.