Purpose
Exploring the shared decision-making inputs and needs of families (parents and adolescents) about returning to sport after recovering from a sports-related concussion.
Methods
Individual interviews were conducted separately with members of 8 adolescent-parent dyads (n = 16). All adolescent participants had been diagnosed with a sports-related concussion in the past 2 years and received tertiary sports medicine care.
Results
Adolescents saw themselves as the decision-maker within the parent-clinician-adolescent triad, and parents relied on clinicians to affirm that adolescent preferences were "safe." Adolescents were largely focused on short-term benefits of returning to sport, assumed that their parents were asking clinicians the "right questions" about safety, and, in many cases, did not have what they considered to be viable alternative activities to the sport where they were injured. Parent beliefs about the benefits of sport, including the role of sport in their child's identity and the importance of sport-related goals, helped explain parent preferences for their child's return to play.
Discussion
Parents and adolescents had different decision inputs, and there was interdependence within families in how decision needs were met. Additional research is needed with more representative samples to further explore this complexity and how it can inform shared decision-making theory and practice.