Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Riverside, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 319-329). Also available online (PDF file) by a subscription to the set or by purchasing the individual file.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Riverside, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 319-329).

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Extensive literature research revealed that little was known about the effectiveness of athletic training continuing education workshops in increasing athletic trainers' knowledge, skills and abilities. The three purposes of this mixed method exploratory study were: 1) to examine whether continuing education workshops were perceived by athletic trainer participants as effective; 2) to determine if a relationship existed between efficacy and perceived workshop training effectiveness; 3) to demonstrate the transfer of training through work experiences. Participants were recruited through Board of Certification for the Athletic Trainer (BOC) approved continuing education workshops. Eighty-four participants completed a questionnaire packet on the day of the workshop. The packet contained the Athletic Training Efficacy Questionnaire, subject matter pre-test, workshop evaluation, and subject matter post-test. Two months after the workshop, participants were contacted and asked to complete an online questionnaire that focused on their perceptions of the workshop they attended and their transfer of the training to the workplace. Quantitative data analysis revealed no significant relationships between participants' levels of efficacy and ages, genders, work experience, and degree attainment. Nor was there a significant relationship found between participants' level of efficacy and their perceptions of workshop effectiveness. The characteristics of the workshops were perceived as effective in increasing participant knowledge, skills and abilities related to athletic training. Overall, 20.2% of participants perceived the workshops as being very effective, 46.4% perceived the workshops to be effective, and 33.3% perceived the workshops as ineffective. / Qualitative analysis revealed that the perceptions of workshop effectiveness were related to the presentation format, characteristics of the instructor, and the relevancy of the workshop material to real life situations. Barriers to the transfer of training were also identified and included workshop format factors (delivery, environmental, and learning styles) and a lack of information presented. Recommendations for the development of continuing education workshops that better meet the needs of athletic trainers were discussed, and suggestions for future research were provided. / by Sarah L. Reed. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

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Recent research suggests that psychological techniques may facilitate injured athletes' rehabilitation, yet little is known about the psychological techniques trainers currently employ and how they view these interventions. In this study, 206 athletic trainers assigned Likert scale ratings to 11 psychological techniques indicating how much they valued a specific technique, how skillfully they employed it, and how often they utilized it. Trainers also responded to an open ended question asking how they would deal with the psychological aspects of an injury described in a short scenario. Results revealed a tentative model for the way trainers view psychological techniques. Categories of techniques included techniques involving the modification of physical and psychological states (goal setting, pain management, relaxation, imagery, and breathing techniques), techniques involving verbal cognitive techniques (communicating openly, changing negative self talk, emotional counseling, and crisis counseling), and non-recommended techniques (encouraging heroism and screening negative information). The study explored trainers' perceptions of each of the 11 psychological techniques in depth and discussed these findings. The study found that although trainers highly value psychological interventions in their work with injured athletes, they assigned low ratings to the techniques they knew little about. However, as exposure to sport psychology information increased, ratings assigned to the techniques that modify physical and psychological states also increased. Similarly, the longer trainers had worked in their field, the more highly they valued the verbal cognitive interventions. In contrast, neither exposure to sport psychology information or athletic training experience proved predictive of ratings assigned to the non-recommended psychological techniques. These findings suggest the importance of introducing skills training for psychological techniques early in the athletic trainers' educational curriculum so that trainers can gain awareness of the efficacy of certain psychological techniques and skill at using these techniques. Moreover, trainers could benefit from course work explaining potential negative consequences of employing harmful or ineffectual psychological interventions.

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Context: Scapular motion evaluation is a necessary component of the upper extremity exam. Several methods exist, but most lack good reliability or diagnostic accuracy. The yes/no scapular dyskinesis test has the best of both measures but is untested on inexperienced clinicians. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability and diagnostic accuracy of the yes/no scapular dyskinesis test when used by graduate assistant athletic trainers. Participants: The participants were college-aged students with no prior history of upper extremity fracture or nerve injury. Data Collection and Results: Participants were evaluated for scapular dyskinesis by a physician and 10 graduate assistant athletic trainers. Ratings were for normal or dyskinetic and then determination of side. Reliability was calculated using Gwet’s AC1 statistic and diagnostic accuracy from standard 2x2 contingency tables. Results: Reliability was moderate (AC1 = 0.48, p < 0.0025, 95% CI [0.147, 0.812]) when side was not accounted for and moderate (AC1 = 0.43, p < 0.0001, 95% CI [0.242, 0.632]) when side-per-side decisions were made. Sensitivity and negative predictive values were low to moderate (34.4%-66.2%, 8.9%-74.1% ). Specificity and positive predictive values were moderate to high (50%-85.2%, 51.5%-95.2%). Accuracy was moderate (65.2%-69.4%) and positive and negative likelihood ratios were low (1.325-2.333, 0.675-0.769). Conclusions: The reliability in this study was on par with previously published studies. Measures of diagnostic accuracy met or exceeded previous results. Clinically, to avoid false negative results and enhance the use of positive results, it appears necessary to combine methods and begin the evaluation with a gross assessment of whether or not dyskinesis is present and if it is to then evaluate which side is dyskinetic.