‘The Little Engine That Could’: A Qualitative Study of Medical Service Access and Effectiveness among Adolescent Athletics Athletes Competing at the Highest International Level
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 nar...
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doaj-c72e08086e06418599107d514ac42b0e2021-07-23T13:43:19ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health1661-78271660-46012021-07-01187278727810.3390/ijerph18147278‘The Little Engine That Could’: A Qualitative Study of Medical Service Access and Effectiveness among Adolescent Athletics Athletes Competing at the Highest International LevelToomas Timpka0Kristina Fagher1Victor Bargoria2Håkan Gauffin3Christer Andersson4Jenny Jacobsson5James Nyce6Stéphane Bermon7Athletics Research Center, Linköping University, 58183 Linköping, SwedenAthletics Research Center, Linköping University, 58183 Linköping, SwedenAthletics Research Center, Linköping University, 58183 Linköping, SwedenAthletics Research Center, Linköping University, 58183 Linköping, SwedenAthletics Research Center, Linköping University, 58183 Linköping, SwedenAthletics Research Center, Linköping University, 58183 Linköping, SwedenAthletics Research Center, Linköping University, 58183 Linköping, SwedenHealth and Science Department, World Athletics, MC 98007 Monte-Carlo, MonacoLittle 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.https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7278public healthadolescentshealth systemsequity in healthathletics (track and field)qualitative research methods |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Toomas Timpka Kristina Fagher Victor Bargoria Håkan Gauffin Christer Andersson Jenny Jacobsson James Nyce Stéphane Bermon |
spellingShingle |
Toomas Timpka Kristina Fagher Victor Bargoria Håkan Gauffin Christer Andersson Jenny Jacobsson James Nyce Stéphane Bermon ‘The Little Engine That Could’: A Qualitative Study of Medical Service Access and Effectiveness among Adolescent Athletics Athletes Competing at the Highest International Level International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health public health adolescents health systems equity in health athletics (track and field) qualitative research methods |
author_facet |
Toomas Timpka Kristina Fagher Victor Bargoria Håkan Gauffin Christer Andersson Jenny Jacobsson James Nyce Stéphane Bermon |
author_sort |
Toomas Timpka |
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 |
title_short |
‘The Little Engine That Could’: A Qualitative Study of Medical Service Access and Effectiveness among Adolescent Athletics Athletes Competing at the Highest International Level |
title_full |
‘The Little Engine That Could’: A Qualitative Study of Medical Service Access and Effectiveness among Adolescent Athletics Athletes Competing at the Highest International Level |
title_fullStr |
‘The Little Engine That Could’: A Qualitative Study of Medical Service Access and Effectiveness among Adolescent Athletics Athletes Competing at the Highest International Level |
title_full_unstemmed |
‘The Little Engine That Could’: A Qualitative Study of Medical Service Access and Effectiveness among Adolescent Athletics Athletes Competing at the Highest International Level |
title_sort |
‘the little engine that could’: a qualitative study of medical service access and effectiveness among adolescent athletics athletes competing at the highest international level |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
issn |
1661-7827 1660-4601 |
publishDate |
2021-07-01 |
description |
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. |
topic |
public health adolescents health systems equity in health athletics (track and field) qualitative research methods |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7278 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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