Student Perspectives on Transition from Bachelor’s to Master’s Degree for Professional Athletic Trainers: Advantages and Disadvantages

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand the perspectives of students interested in a career in athletic training on the degree change and what they perceive as advantages and disadvantages to pursuing a master's level professional degree in athletic training. Method: A case study was conducted using an interpretivism framework informed by a constructionism theoretical stance. A focus group of six current undergraduate pre-athletic training students and individual interviews of three pre-athletic training graduates along with current and historical documents were used to collect data. An inductive approach was used to analyze data along with reflexive thematic analysis to extract the advantages and disadvantages of the degree change from the students’ perspectives. Results: Several advantages and disadvantages to the degree change were identified by participants. Advantages outnumbered disadvantages in all three data sources. The top three advantages to the professional degree change were advanced knowledge and education, increased trust in ATs, and more respect and recognition for the profession. The top three disadvantages to the professional degree change were cost of additional school, limited locations/distance to schools, and academic challenges. Conclusions: This study found that the mandated professional degree change in athletic training education has more advantages than disadvantages according to students interested in pursuing a career in athletic training. With stakeholder knowledge of these student perspectives, institutions and master’s level professional ATPs may be better prepared to implement to assist future students in overcoming barriers and potentially increase enrollment and prevent an AT shortage in the future.