title: Professional baseball athletic trainers' perceptions of preparation for job-specific duties.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The extent to which individuals are prepared completely for work in a particular athletic training setting (eg, professional sports, college, high school) is unknown. This issue is critical today, and findings in this area have implications for athletic training  education policy and employers.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the perceptions of preparation for work-specific tasks by professional baseball athletic trainers (PBATs). We also wanted to determine whether various preparation experiences interact with perceived skills.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Online survey administered via Survey-Monkey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred seventy-five PBATs.
  
  
  METHODS
  The PBATs reported their levels of  preparation before employment in their positions and their current skills in each of the 8 work task domains: evaluation of elbow injuries; evaluation of shoulder injuries; evaluation of general injuries; acute care; injury prevention; treatment, rehabilitation, and reconditioning; organization  and administration; and non-athletic-training tasks.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nine repeated-measures analyses of covariance were performed with each perception of preparation (retrospective, current) as a within-subject factor. Preparation  experiences were included as between-subjects factors, and number of years working in baseball was the covariate.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Subscale reliabilities were calculated and found to be between 0.79 and 0.97. A total of 180 PBATs (65%) completed the survey. The backgrounds and routes  by which PBATs gained employment in the professional baseball setting varied. Individuals who completed professional baseball internships, had previous work experience, and immediately entered the professional baseball setting after graduation had noted differences in their perceptions of  preparation for work tasks. The PBATs indicated they were substantially underprepared for tasks in the organization and administration and non-athletic-training task domains.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The organizational socialization process is complex, and no 1 experience appears  to completely prepare an individual for work in the professional baseball setting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sports Medicine, 305 Sturzebecker Health Sciences Center, West Chester University, West Chester, Pennsylvania 19383, USA. agardiner@wcupa.edu
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gardiner-Shires
authors.forename: Scott C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Marley
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.forename: Mark E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Shires
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D056352:Athletes; D001265:Athletic Injuries; D001484:Baseball; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009790:Occupations; D010465:Perception; D010806:Physical Education and Training; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012951:Socialization; D013177:Sports; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires