Teaching ethics to athletic training students from CAATE accredited undergraduate athletic training education programs /by Jacqueline M. Williams.

Athletic Training is service-oriented and care giving in nature. Certified athletic trainers provide ethical care for the mental and physical well-being of the patient. Certified athletic trainers must be able to make appropriate ethical decisions concerning the medical treatment for patients.;The purposes of this study were to describe variables of professional preparation in ethics education by athletic training education program directors and certified athletic trainer clinical instructors; evaluate teaching methods of ethics; evaluate the cognitive ability in principled reasoning to apply ethical principles of the NATA Code of Ethics; and offer guidelines for education in ethics of care.;An assessment instrument was developed to describe and analyze: (1) the demographics of the certified athletic trainer participants, (2) the formal ethics education of the participants, (3) how their athletic training students are taught ethics of care, (4) how they teach ethics of care, and (5) how well they could apply principled reasoning to the NATA Code of Ethics principles.;A stratified systematic sample of 100 CRATE-approved undergraduate athletic training education programs was used. From these programs, 426 certified athletic trainers were selected. One-hundred six (25%) certified athletic trainers (54 male; 52 female) completed the survey representing 86 of the 100 programs selected.;Certified athletic trainers must follow several rules and codes. Athletic training students must be taught specific knowledge, including foundational behaviors of professional practice. As identified throughout this study, there is an appearance that there is no common thread of ethics education either as trained professionals or as teaching and mentoring educationalists. Sixty-nine of 106 participants (65%) completed the principled reasoning portion of five scenarios using a Likert response of strongly agree to strongly disagree. In all questions, participants chose other than strongly disagree 18% to 39% of the time. If the preferred pedagogical form of teaching ethics occurred, certified athletic trainers would have absolutely answered strongly disagree.;The overall impression is that most certified athletic trainers lack appropriate training in ethics education which may limit their ability to communicate appropriate ethical decision making information to students. Athletic training educators may want to examine how ethics education is being implemented. By developing a self understanding of values through reflection, practice, and communication, a certified athletic trainer can begin to provide quality ethics of care education.Thesis (Ph. D., Education)--University of Idaho, July 2007