Factors Influencing Athletic Training Students' Perceptions of the Athletic Training Profession and Career Choice.

Context: Successful athletic training programs should help students develop a desire to work within the athletic training profession while providing adequate preparation for them to enter the workforce. Understanding athletic training students' perceptions of the profession as they leave programs and the factors that influence these perceptions is critical in ensuring retention of graduating students in the field. Objective: To examine senior athletic training students' [SATSs] attitudes, opinions, and perceptions of the athletic training profession and to gain insight into the factors that influence their career choice. Design: Qualitative study. Setting: Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education–accredited athletic training education programs. Patients or Other Participants: A total of 26 SATSs (7 men, 19 women) who graduated in 2011. Main Outcome Measure(s): We collected data using semistructured phone interviews and implemented a grounded theory approach to analyze the data. We used m...