Unbiased? Race, gender, and sport effects in university medical staff’s perceptions of injured student-athletes

ABSTRACT Injured student-athletes rely on university medical staff personnel for care. Do these practitioners exhibit race and/or gender biases in their perceptions of injured student-athletes? While such biases have been widely documented in other medical practitioner populations, they have not been studied in the domain of college athletics. We use a survey experiment conducted on National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1 medical staff to explore perceptions of an injured student-athlete (e.g. the likelihood of the student-athlete complying with treatment). We find little evidence of bias. We discuss why this population of medical practitioners may differ from others, and we offer suggestions for future work on medical treatment of student-athletes.