Unbiased? Race, gender, and sport effects in university medical staff's perceptions of injured student-athletes. Issue 1 (2nd January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Druckman, James N.; Trawalter, Sophie; Montes, Ivonne
• Is Part Of: Journal for the study of sports & athletes in education. Volume 13:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 10
• Publication Date: 2019-01-02
• Subjects: Sport injuries -- NCAA medical staff -- race bias -- gender bias -- medical treatment -- ACL injuries -- survey experiment -- student-athletes; Athletes -- Education (Higher) -- Periodicals; College sports -- United States -- Periodicals; College athletes -- Education -- Periodicals; Sports -- Periodicals; 796.04305
• DOI: 10.1080/19357397.2018.1525135
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1935-7397

Abstract

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.