Professional Socialization: A Retrospective View From Graduation to Full-Time Employment

Abstract

Context It is assumed that after the transition to practice, athletic trainers will have developed stronger decision-making strategies, will have become comfortable within their role, and will be able to reflect on how their employer assisted them through the transition-to-practice process. Objective The goal of this study was to gain an understanding of how athletic trainers have gone through the transition-to-practice process and what resources they relied on during and after the transition. Design Qualitative study, phenomenological design. Setting Semistructured interviews. Patients or Other Participants Twelve athletic trainers (10 women, 2 men; 4.0 ± 2 years certified) agreed to participate. Data saturation guided the total number of participants for this study. Data Collection and Analysis Videoconference interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim using Zoom. Credibility of the study was maintained using several mechanisms, including expert/peer review, member checks, and researcher triangulation. Results Two themes emerged as different points in time of the athletic trainer's transition to practice. The first theme was pre–entrance into the workforce, and within this theme, athletic trainers were able to reflect on the strategies and resources that were provided to them by their professional master of athletic training program. Within the second theme, post–entrance into the workforce, athletic trainers were able to recall the resources that were provided to them by their employers and those additional resources that were sought out individually. Conclusions Athletic trainers recognized how their master of athletic training programs prepared them for the transition-to-practice process based on the didactic coursework and intentional clinical education experiences. Athletic trainers also recognized the resources that were and were not provided to them to assist them in fulfilling their roles and responsibilities, as well as realizing the additional resources they needed to enhance their own clinical practice.