Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in Sports Medicine: A Concise Resource for Clinicians and Researchers

Despite the importance of assessing patient outcomes during patient care, current evidence suggests relatively limited use of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) by athletic trainers (ATs). Major barriers to PROM use include lack of knowledge, navigating the intricate process of assessing a wide variety of PROMs, and selecting the most appropriate PROM to use for care. A concise resource for ATs to consult when selecting and implementing PROMs may help facilitate the use of PROMs in athletic health care.

To review the instrument essentials and clinical utility of PROMs used by ATs.

We studied 11 lower extremity region-specific, 10 upper extremity region-specific, 6 generic, and 3 single-item PROMs based on the endorsement of at least 10% of ATs who use PROMs, as reported in a recent investigation of PROM use in athletic training. A literature search was conducted for each included PROM that focused on identifying and extracting components of the instrument essentials (ie, instrument development, reliability, validity, responsiveness and interpretability, and precision) and clinical utility (ie, acceptability, feasibility, and appropriateness). Through independent review and group consensus, we also classified each PROM question by International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health domain and health-related quality-of-life dimensions.

The PROMs contained in this report generally possessed appropriate instrument essentials and clinical utility. Moreover, the PROMs generally emphasized body structure and function as well as the physical functioning of the patient. Athletic trainers aiming to assess patients via a whole-person approach may benefit from combining different PROMs for use in patient care to ensure broader attention to disablement health domains and health-related quality-of-life dimensions.