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Abstract

Context: Within the athletic training profession, there are continuing education requirements in order to maintain national certification. Although the profession mandates completion of continuing education, little research has assessed the effectiveness of continuing education interventions. Furthermore, there has been even less research conducted on the effectiveness of virtual continuing education interventions. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a virtual continuing education presentation on perceived and actual knowledge of cupping therapy among certified athletic trainers. Methods: 31 certified athletic trainers began this study (age = 38 ± 11, years of credentialed experience = 15 ± 11). A web-based survey assessed education, usage, and perceived and actual knowledge of cupping therapy. Upon completing the initial survey, participants were asked to watch a recorded continuing education presentation on cupping therapy and take a second survey with 19 completing the survey. One month after completion of the second survey, participants were sent a follow up survey to assess retention of knowledge. For all rating questions means with standard deviations and frequencies were recorded. Paired t-tests were performed to determine if there were any differences in perceived and actual knowledge before and after the intervention and one month after the completion of post-presentation survey. Significance was set with a p value of p < 0.05. Statistical procedures were performed using SPSS V26 (IBM, Armonk, NY). Results: Prior to the presentation participants had a mean perceived knowledge score of 29.1 ± 19.4 out of 60 indicating that on average, they had at least some confidence in their knowledge of cupping therapy. Following the presentation, the mean perceived knowledge score was 20.2 ± 6.1 out of 60 with lower scores indicating more confidence. This represented a significant improvement in perceived knowledge, t(16) = 4.31, p < .01. At the one-month follow the mean perceived knowledge score was 17.3 ± 6.2 with no significant change over the month, t(7) = -.07, p = .943. Initially, participants had a mean sum of correct actual knowledge items (n=22) of 19.5 ± 1, which was equivalent to 88.5% had this been a written exam. Following the presentation, the mean sum of actual knowledge items was 19.9 ± 1.62, with no significant increase in actual knowledge (p = .382). Conclusion: These findings suggest that a virtual presentation directed toward athletic trainers may be effective in improving perceived knowledge. Although there was no significant improvement in actual knowledge, this may be due to the high initial scores on actual knowledge items. Further research should be conducted to determine the effectiveness of virtual continuing education on topics with which individuals are less knowledgeable.

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