Collaboration for Athletic Training Coverage in High Schools - An Ongoing National Survey: The Prevalence of Athletic Training Services in Private Secondary Schools

Context: Athletic training (AT) services in secondary schools have recently been reported as high as 70%, but this only extends to the public sector. The extent of AT coverage in private secondary school settings has yet to be investigated. This may differ from the public secondary school setting for several reasons, including differences in funding sources. Objective: Determine level of AT services in private secondary schools. Design: Concurrent mixed-methods. Setting: Private secondary schools in the United States. Patients or Other Participants: 2,045 (38%) of all 5,414 private secondary schools responded to the survey. Intervention: School administrators responded to a survey via telephone or email. This instrument was previously used in a study examining AT services among public secondary schools. Main Outcome Measures: Descriptive statistics depict national data. Open-ended questions were analyzed through content analysis. Results: Of those 2,045 schools that responded, 57% (1,169/2,045) had AT services, including 28% (574/2,045) full-time, 24% (501/2,045) part-time, 4% (78/2,045) per diem, and 20% (409/2,045) from a hospital or clinic. Eighty-four percent (280,417/335,814) of athletes had access to AT services. Larger private secondary schools were more likely to have AT services. Barriers to providing AT services in the private sector included budgetary constraints, school size, and lack of awareness of the role of an athletic trainer. Conclusions: More than half of the surveyed private secondary schools in the United States have AT services; however, only 28% have a full-time athletic trainer. This demonstrates a need for increased medical coverage in this setting to provide athletes with the appropriate level of care. Budgetary issues and misconceptions related to the importance of the athletic trainer continue to be barriers in the secondary school setting. Key Words: athletic trainers, medical coverage, private high school, secondary schoo