Identifying Attitudes and Deterring Factors Toward Continuing Education Among Certified Athletic Trainers

Objective: To explore the perceived attitudes toward continuing education and the deterrents to continuing education for certified athletic trainers (ATCs). Design and Setting: Data were collected using the Adults Attitudes Towards Continuing Education Scale (AATCES) instrument, Deterrents to Participation Scale-General (DPS-G) instrument, and self-reported demographics. Subjects: An imbedded on-line questionnaire was e-mailed three times in a 6-week period to ATCs who subscribe to the athletic trainers listserv at Indiana State University and the professional athletic trainers education listserv at Findlay University. The sample of this study consisted of approximately 1,200 ATCs of which 268 answered and returned the survey, a return rate of 22%. Measurements: Data included descriptive statistics, a one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and Cluster Analysis to compare the demographic groups on the AATCES and the DPS-G instruments. Results: This study found that the participants have a very positive attitude toward continuing education according to the AATCES instrument and that the participants report few deterrents through the DPS-G instrument. However, two deterrents of statistical importance were found in the items related to Time and Course Relevance and one deterrent, Cost, was found in the comparison to gender.Conclusions: This study found that ATCs have a very favorable attitude toward continuing education and that ATCs perceive few deterrents to continuing education. To further understand these trends in continuing education, these particular surveys must be made available to more ATCs. In addition, continuing education providers need to understand the needs of the ATCs that they serve