Burnout in Athletic Training Students: Utilization of Stress Reducing Strategies

Abstract

Burnout has been associated with the helping professions for many years. Athletic training is a profession that has experienced burnout, with a decline in all athletic training professionals after the age of 30 (Kahanov and Eberman, 2011). This dissertation in practice, not only deals with testing the level of stress in athletic training students but also the implementation of stress reducing strategies and techniques to assist with stress and burnout. Therefore, this research will provide answers as to the levels of stress athletic training students experience. In addition, this research will provide insight on the stress reducing strategies and techniques most useful for this group of athletic training students. The instrument developed for this study was a modification of the Athletic Training Burnout Inventory (ATBI) (Clapper and Harris, 2008). The instrument developed for this dissertation in practice was the Athletic Training Student Burnout Inventory (ATSBI). Questions from the ATBI were modified, removed, and created to provide wording that was appropriate for this group of athletic training students. The ATSBI was administered over four time periods: December 2015, April 2016, September 2016, and December 2016. During the course of the first two administration periods, December 2015 and April 2016, the athletic training students received stress reducing information. During the course of the last two administration periods, September 2016 and December 2016, the athletic training students received stress reducing strategies and techniques and were asked to practice them on a weekly basis. There was a total of eight stress reducing strategies and techniques utilized by this group of athletic training students over the course of the semester. On a weekly basis, the students provided feedback on the stress reducing strategy or technique. The quantitative results showed little statistical significance; however, the qualitative information reported as the most beneficial stress reducing strategies and techniques for this group of athletic training students was the following: listening to music, time usage chart and schedule, coloring, the to-do list, and positive thinking.