Assessing Self-Authorship Among Athletic Training Students

The purpose of this study was to examine the nature and development of self-authorship among athletic training students. A cross-sectional, survey design was used and students enrolled in Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) accredited professional athletic training degree programs were included as participants. Systematic sampling was used to recruit participants from the target population. Participants were recruited through batch email addresses of non-certified student members of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) membership database. The quantitative measure of self-authorship described by Creamer, Baxter Magolda, and Yue (2010), referred to as the Career Decision Making Survey-Self Authorship (CDMS-SA), was used and transcribed into web-based survey software to be disseminated to participants through email. Data from the CDMS-SA instrument was analyzed using quantitative statistical analysis procedures including factor analysis, reliability analysis, descriptive statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression. Findings showed questionable construct validity and undesirable levels of internal consistency (reliability) when attempting to quantitatively assess self-authorship and its phases and dimensions among a sample of athletic training students. Future research should continue working toward better understanding and measuring self-authorship. Advancement in these areas could refine and establish a valid and reliable way for researchers and practitioners to assess self-authorship among subjects and students