Volume 9: Issue 2

Context

Retention of quality students in athletic training programs (ATPs) is important. Many factors contribute to retention of students, including their motivation level, peer support, positive interactions with instructors, clinical integration, and mentorship.

Objective

Highlight the use of the observation period for preparatory athletic training students as a means to promote retention.

Background

Many ATPs require a period of observation as part of or as a precursor to application for admission. The experience gives students initial exposure to the profession while allowing the ATP to evaluate the student's potential for admission and success within the program and as a young professional. The roles of an athletic trainer are complex and challenging; therefore, ATPs need to ensure they are preparing their students for professional practice.

Synthesis

A review of the retention literature was conducted and specific applications suggested based upon the authors' professional experiences.

Results

Early socialization into the profession is helpful for understanding an athletic trainer's role. Diversity during the observation period can facilitate a student's understanding, plausibly improving persistence.

Recommendations

Athletic training programs are encouraged to provide the preparatory student with structured, required observations of athletic trainers. Specifically, students should be exposed to diverse clinical employment settings and the different domains of clinical practice for the athletic trainer. This exposure could plausibly facilitate retention.

Conclusions

It is important to identify strategies to help retain quality students in order to promote and advance the professional stature of athletic training. Focusing on clinical experiences, rather than quantity of hours, may benefit students who are evaluating their futures as athletic trainers.

Context and Background

Athletic therapy postsecondary education and certification requirements in Canada have reached considerable milestones throughout their history. The most important of these accomplishments was administration of the first Canadian Athletic Therapists' Association (CATA) certification examination in 1975. At that time, there were three basic exam eligibility requirements: (1) core curricular courses; (2) 1800 practical hours; and (3) a valid first aid certificate. The only significant change to these certification requirements occurred in 1976, when the 1800-hour internship requirement was reduced to 1200 hours. However, a documented rationale for this change could not be determined. The noteworthy milestone occurred when the CATA approved a policy stating that, as of September 1999, all future athletic therapy candidates would have to be enrolled in a Canadian accredited program at a postsecondary institution. Although this policy significantly advanced the CATA's postsecondary academic/curricular requirements, the 1200-hour internship requirement has remained unchanged for almost four decades.

Objective

The purpose of this commentary is to stimulate discussion about the linkage between the practical-hour requirements and teaching, evaluating, and achieving clinical competence.

Recommendations

Recommendations for change are based on lessons learned by other organizations for medical educators and allied health care professions, such as the National Athletic Trainers' Association. One suggestion for change is to hold students accountable for achieving a predetermined level of clinical competence before they move through or graduate from a program. In order to accomplish this goal, students must be assessed with valid and reliable evaluation tools.

Conclusion

Therefore, it is important to establish a group of stakeholders who can identify issues and articulate a plan to guide the future of postsecondary athletic therapy education in Canada.

Context

Understanding changes in athletic training program (ATP) commitment over time is crucial in retaining high-quality students in an ATP.

Objective

The purpose of this study was to examine if changes over time in ATP commitment determinants are related to actual changes in ATP commitment.

Design

Longitudinal and cross-sectional survey.

Setting

Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education-accredited ATP.

Patients or Other Participants

A total of 99 male and female athletic training students participated in Time 1. A total of 71 (39% males, 61% females) of the original 99 participants participated in Time 2. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 24 years (mean = 20.05, standard deviation = 1.28).

Data Collection and Analysis

Previously validated measures assessed students' perceptions of enjoyment, attractive alternatives, investments, social constraints and support, benefits and costs, and commitment to ATP over time. Change scores for Times 1 and 2 were calculated for each predictor and commitment to ATP. Two multiple regression analyses determined which changes in the determinants of commitment predicted a change in commitment. A repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) determined the magnitude of change in the model variables over time. Lastly, a multivariate ANOVA compared who continued, graduated, and discontinued in the ATP.

Results

Increases in investments and enjoyment predicted positive changes in commitment from Time 1 to Time 2. Additionally, decreases in classmates' social constraints and increases in professors' social constraints positively predicted changes in commitment. When exploring the magnitude of change in the model variables, only increases and decreases in enjoyment from Time 1 to Time 2 were related to concomitant changes in commitment. Lastly, graduating students reported lower commitment and enjoyment and higher perceived costs than did those students who remained in the ATP and had not yet graduated.

Conclusions

Athletic training program commitment predictors tend to change over time; ATP enjoyment is critical to continued motivation.

Mazerolle SM, Pagnotta KD, Salvatore AC, Casa DJ. Athletic training educators' pedagogical strategies for preparing students to address sudden death in sport. Athl Train Educ J. 2013;8(4):85–96.

Athletic Training Educators' Pedagogical Strategies for Preparing Students to Address Sudden Death in Sport

Stephanie M. Mazerolle, PhD, ATC, LAT; Kelly D. Pagnotta, MA; Anthony C. Salvatore, MS, ATC; Douglas J. Casa, PhD, ATC, FACSM, FNATA

Ms Pagnotta's additional credentials are ATC, PES.

Reliability and Validity of the Functional Assessment of Neurocognition in Sport (FANS): A Paradigm Shift in Post-Concussion Return-to-Sport Decision-Making

Landon B. LempkePhD, ATC,

Benjamin L. BrettPhD, and

Douglas P. TerryPhD,ABPP