Athletic Training Educators' Knowledge, Comfort, and Perceived Importance of Evidence-Based Practice

Abstract

Context: Before new strategies and effective techniques for implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP) into athletic training curricula can occur, it is crucial to recognize the current knowledge and understanding of EBP concepts among athletic training educators.Objective: To assess athletic training educators' current knowledge, comfort, and perceived importance of evidence-based concepts.Design: Cross-sectional survey design.Setting: Online survey instrument.Patients or Other Participants: 141 respondents (28.3% response rate) from a convenience sample of 498 athletic training educators.Main Outcome Measure(s): Demographic information and knowledge, comfort, and perceived importance of 11 EBP concepts (definition of EBP, steps of EBP, reliability, validity, intra-class correlation coefficient, kappa coefficient, specificity, sensitivity, likelihood ratio, positive predictive value, negative predictive value) were obtained.Results: Participants' overall EBP knowledge score was 64.4%. Characteristics associated with higher knowledge scores were terminal degree (69.92% ± 10.36, P