The Relationships of Age and Years of Experience to Professional Development for Athletic Trainers Employed in the Collegiate Setting

Abstract

Context Professional identity is a process in which individuals forms a self-concept in the context of their profession, and includes an ability to articulate a professional philosophy. Professional identity relates to many aspects of a profession, including practices, ethics, and the requirements for success. Professional development is a component of professional identity and represents the growth of professionals as they acquire skills and confidence in autonomous practice. Currently, little is known in regard to the role age and years of experience play in the professional development of athletic trainers (ATs). Objective To determine the relationships of age and years of experience to professional development. Design Cross-sectional online survey. Setting Collegiate athletic training clinical setting. Patients or Other Participants Four hundred twenty-three (193 men, 230 women) ATs. Intervention(s) Data were collected via a Web-based survey instrument consisting of demographic and Likert-scale questions relating to professional development. Main Outcome Measure(s) Likert responses were summed, and demographic information was analyzed for frequency and distribution. Pearson correlations were run to evaluate the relationships between variables and linear regression was used to determine if age or years of experience could predict professional development scores. Results A positive relationship exists between professional development scores and both age and years of experience. Both age (R2 = 0.066) and years of experience (R2 = 0.075) were statistically significant predictors of variance in overall professional development scores. Conclusions Although age and years of experiences were both positively correlated with, and predicted variance in, overall professional development scores, the predicted variance of both variables was relatively small. Although we can say that both age and years of experience are prognostic in the professional development of collegiate ATs, their impact is statistically minimal.