Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education

Abstract

Context: Even before the onset of Educational reform, clinical experience, whether through formal clinical Education or internship experiences, shaped the academic preparation of future athletic training professionals. As Education has evolved, emphasis has shifted to more formal classroom instruction enhanced with clinical experiences. The Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) between the United States and Canada allows athletic trainers and athletic therapists, respectively, to qualify for certification in the other country. Objective: To evaluate student perceptions in the United States and Canada about the importance of clinical Education in their academic preparation and to evaluate students perceived frequency of tasks described in the Role Delineation Study/Practice Analysis 6 th Edition (RDS) during their clinical experiences. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Web-based survey. Participants: We recruited athletic training students and recent athletic training graduates from the United States (n=582) and Canada (n=26) through NATA e-mails, program director recruitment, and social media posts on Facebook ® and Twitter ® . We excluded participants who had less than three semesters of clinical Education and those who had graduated longer than 6 months prior to participation. Interventions: We asked students to indicate the percent of total professional preparation from clinical experiences. We also asked students to reflect on the frequency that they completed the 28 tasks defined by the RDS during clinical Education. Main Outcome Measures: We used a sliding 100-point scale to measure percent of total professional preparation attributed to clinical experiences. We mimicked the traditional practice analysis methods, using a 4 point Likert scale (Infrequently=1, Occasionally=2, Often=3, Very Often=4) for each task item. We analyzed the data for characteristics of central tendency. We also ran comparative stats (independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA) to identify any difference between the United States and Canada. Results: Students reported that on average 65.5%±16.7% of their total professional preparation is attributed to their clinical experiences. Students revealed that they were performing tasks within the RDS often or very often: clinical evaluation and diagnosis (3.7±0.35), treatment and rehabilitation (3.3±0.39), organizational and professional health and wellness (2.4±0.44), injury/illness prevention (2.9±0.51) and wellness protection, and immediate and emergency care (3.0±0.66 N=59). There was significant difference in one domain and five specific tasks between the U.S and Canada. To ensure that there were no subgroup differences, we completed separate one-way analyses of variance on the number of semesters of clinical experience and type of degree program on both main outcome measures and found no significant differences. Conclusions: Among our respondents from the United States and Canada, it appears that students attribute a large majority of their professional preparation to come from their clinical experiences (65.5%). This is different than past research, conducted prior to the transition to curriculum programs, that indicated students and recent graduates attributed only 53.0% (n=129) to clinical experiences. Although we understand these are student perceptions, the data indicate that Educational programs should focus on effective and evidence-based outcomes assessment in clinical Education, safe and effective clinical learning environments, and continued competence of preceptors. Practical Applications: Program directors and preceptors should understand that students perceive a majority of their professional preparation comes from their clinical Education. Preceptors and educators should work together to develop clinical Education in order to develop students in areas where they perceive less frequent encounters.

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