‘The Little Engine That Could’: A Qualitative Study of Medical Service Access and Effectiveness among Adolescent Athletics Athletes Competing at the Highest International Level
(2021) In International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18(14).- Abstract
- Little is known about provision of medical services to adolescents prior to participating in international top-level sports. This study aimed to investigate experiences of medical service provision among high-level adolescent athletics (track and field) athletes from three continents. A thematic narrative analysis was applied to data collected from 14 athletes by semi-structured interviews. Although competing at the highest international level, these adolescent athletes had difficulties making sense of symptoms of ill health, especially on their own. With increasing exercise loads, the athletes’ medical support needs had extended beyond the capacity of parents and local communities. As there was no organized transfer of the responsibility... (More)
- Little is known about provision of medical services to adolescents prior to participating in international top-level sports. This study aimed to investigate experiences of medical service provision among high-level adolescent athletics (track and field) athletes from three continents. A thematic narrative analysis was applied to data collected from 14 athletes by semi-structured interviews. Although competing at the highest international level, these adolescent athletes had difficulties making sense of symptoms of ill health, especially on their own. With increasing exercise loads, the athletes’ medical support needs had extended beyond the capacity of parents and local communities. As there was no organized transfer of the responsibility for medical support to sports organizations, the athletes often had to manage their health problems by themselves. There were major variations among the adolescent athletes with regards to medical service access and quality. The services used ranged from sophisticated computer-assisted biomechanical analyses to traditional healers. Decreased exercise load was the common sports injury treatment. The results of this study demonstrate how the ethical standards underpinning youth sports as well as the equal provision of medical services to adolescents are challenged across the world. Further research on health service provision to adolescent top-level athletes is warranted (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/7bf1d784-5413-428e-aece-cbfc9ef6ec5e
- author
- Timpka, Toomas ; Fagher, Kristina LU ; Bargoria, Victor ; Gauffin, Håkan ; Andersson, Christer ; Jacobsson, Jenny ; Nyce, James and Bermon, Stéphane
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021-07-07
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- volume
- 18
- issue
- 14
- article number
- 7278
- publisher
- MDPI AG
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85109087330
- pmid:34299729
- ISSN
- 1660-4601
- DOI
- 10.3390/ijerph18147278
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 7bf1d784-5413-428e-aece-cbfc9ef6ec5e
- date added to LUP
- 2021-07-11 19:18:54
- date last changed
- 2022-04-27 02:47:29
@article{7bf1d784-5413-428e-aece-cbfc9ef6ec5e,
abstract = {{Little is known about provision of medical services to adolescents prior to participating in international top-level sports. This study aimed to investigate experiences of medical service provision among high-level adolescent athletics (track and field) athletes from three continents. A thematic narrative analysis was applied to data collected from 14 athletes by semi-structured interviews. Although competing at the highest international level, these adolescent athletes had difficulties making sense of symptoms of ill health, especially on their own. With increasing exercise loads, the athletes’ medical support needs had extended beyond the capacity of parents and local communities. As there was no organized transfer of the responsibility for medical support to sports organizations, the athletes often had to manage their health problems by themselves. There were major variations among the adolescent athletes with regards to medical service access and quality. The services used ranged from sophisticated computer-assisted biomechanical analyses to traditional healers. Decreased exercise load was the common sports injury treatment. The results of this study demonstrate how the ethical standards underpinning youth sports as well as the equal provision of medical services to adolescents are challenged across the world. Further research on health service provision to adolescent top-level athletes is warranted}},
author = {{Timpka, Toomas and Fagher, Kristina and Bargoria, Victor and Gauffin, Håkan and Andersson, Christer and Jacobsson, Jenny and Nyce, James and Bermon, Stéphane}},
issn = {{1660-4601}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{07}},
number = {{14}},
publisher = {{MDPI AG}},
series = {{International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health}},
title = {{‘The Little Engine That Could’: A Qualitative Study of Medical Service Access and Effectiveness among Adolescent Athletics Athletes Competing at the Highest International Level}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147278}},
doi = {{10.3390/ijerph18147278}},
volume = {{18}},
year = {{2021}},
}