Portability of United States Athletic Training Education in an International Setting

Abstract

Context: United States-educated athletic trainers (ATs) are expected to have more opportunities in the international environment as the number of mutual recognition agreements grows. However, no information is available from existing studies regarding the portability of current US athletic training education in an international environment. Objective: To determine if there are differences in the practices and perceptions of ATs' tasks between US-educated Japanese ATs and Japan-educated Japanese ATs. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Analysis of secondary datasets from the Global Practice Analysis Survey. Patients or Other Participants: Two hundred seventeen Japanese ATs in Japan, of whom 34 were educated in the United States and 183 completed the required coursework to be certified by Japan Sports Association. Main Outcome Measure(s): Fisher exact tests were used (P < .05) to determine the difference in each of 24 task ratings in terms of the criticality, importance, and frequency dimensions between the 2 groups. Further, Spearman's ranked correlation, in which rankings were based on the average score of 4-point Likert scales (P < .05), were used to compare priorities regarding the 24 tasks between the 2 groups. Results: Differences were identified for only 2 tasks among 72 (24 tasks for 3 dimensions) in task-level evaluations. The correlation coefficients were as follows: criticality = 0.92 (P < .01), importance = 0.93 (P < .01), and frequency = 0.92 (P < .01). Conclusions: There were negligible differences in the practice patterns and perceptions between those trained in Japan and those who were US trained, indicating that US athletic training education prepares Japanese students well to work in Japan and may be portable internationally.