title: Athletic trainers' barriers to maintaining professional commitment in the collegiate setting.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Professional commitment simply describes one's obligation to his or her work. For athletic trainers (ATs), the demanding work environment and job expectations may affect their characterization of professional commitment. Our breadth of knowledge regarding professional commitment within athletic training is narrow.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the professional commitment of ATs in the collegiate setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Qualitative study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Collegiate.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-three Board of Certification-certified ATs employed in the collegiate setting (National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I = 11, Division II = 9, Division III = 13) with an average of 10 ± 8 years of clinical experience volunteered. Data saturation guided the total number of participants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Online journaling via QuestionPro was completed by all participants. Multiple-analyst triangulation and peer review were conducted for data credibility. Analysis followed a general inductive method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four themes speak to the factors that negatively affect ATs' professional enthusiasm and commitment: (1) life stage, (2) work overload, (3) organizational climate, and (4) human resources. The latter 3 speak to the effect the workplace can have on ATs' professional commitment, and the first speaks to the effect outside responsibilities can have.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that several of the factors that negatively influence the professional commitment of collegiate ATs are modifiable organizational components. Developing resiliency strategies at the individual and organizational levels may help to facilitate improved professional commitment for the AT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Athletic Training Program, University of Connecticut, Storrs;
authors.forename: Stephanie M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Mazerolle
authors.forename: Christianne M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Eason
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Pitney
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003144:Communication Barriers; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D010806:Physical Education and Training / Q000592:standards*; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000592:standards*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012574:Schools; D012941:Social Responsibility; D013177:Sports / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D014937:Work / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards
keywords: organizational climate; resiliency; role overload