Parent-Child Communication regarding Sport-Related Concussion: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior.

Extant research has discussed the importance of social climates surrounding sport-related concussion (SRC) reporting, especially the need to address parents/guardians' role in concussion management. This study explores parents/guardians' intentions toward SRC-related conversations with their children and their seeking of conversational resources via the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Data collected from 292 parents/guardians of 1st-12th graders who play contact sports are examined via a structural equation model. The results indicate that parents/guardians' intention toward communicating with their child about SRC reporting was determined by their attitudes and subjective norms but that perceived behavioral control was not a significant predictor of intention. Furthermore, parents/guardians' intention toward having these conversations was predictive of whether they sought information to aid these conversations. This study answers calls to address parents/guardians' involvement in SRC management and provides preliminary information for persuading parents/guardians to have conversations with their children about SRC reporting.

"D.O. or die": identity negotiation among osteopathic medical students.

Doctors of osteopathic medicine (D.O.s) have historically faced an uphill battle to gain professional legitimacy and credibility in a U.S. medical culture dominated by allopathic medicine. Today, struggles surrounding the negotiation of a professional osteopathic identity can be found among osteopathic medical students who actively debate the merits of a potential change in the D.O. designation. This study examines identity construction by analyzing osteopathic medical students' accounts of identity that reveal certain ways they negotiate their emerging professional selves. By merging current literature on identity negotiation from health and organizational communication, we highlight the complex relationship between the discursive construction of professional identity and the embodied and material consequences of becoming a D.O.

The DO difference: an analysis of causal relationships affecting the degree-change debate.

CONTEXT: The academic credential awarded to osteopathic physicians is the doctor of osteopathy or doctor of osteopathic medicine (DO) degree. Public recognition of the degree has been disappointingly low, however, leading some members of the profession to argue for a change in the degree's name and formal designation. OBJECTIVES: To investigate antecedents to the desire among osteopathic medical students to change vs retain the DO degree designation and maintain "the DO difference." METHODS: A self-administered cross-sectional 38-item electronic survey was distributed to 480 students at an osteopathic medical school in the Midwestern United States. The instrument included knowledge-based items about osteopathic principles and practice (OPP) as well as items designed to assess attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intention to support a proposed degree change. RESULTS: An overall response rate of 45% was achieved (n=214). Structural equation modeling revealed that low levels of OPP knowledge were associated with positive attitudes and subjective norms favoring a degree change with the reverse true for opposing students. Knowledge did not influence perceived behavioral control. Attitudes were the best predictor of intention to vote with 85% variance predicted in our models; perceived behavioral control was the best predictor of intention to debate with approximately 38% variance observed. CONCLUSIONS: As a result of diminished use of palpation and osteopathic manipulative treatment--two historic markers of professional identity among osteopathic physicians--the DO degree designation as an indicator of difference has received increasing scrutiny. Improved student awareness of OPP is essential to maintaining the DO difference in clinical practice and with regard to the DO degree designation.