The Effects of Debriefing Methods on Athletic Training Students’ Self-Efficacy

Purpose: Simulation-based education is a teaching method used successfully in nursing and medical education, as well as in the military and aviation fields. It provides students with safe learning environments and opportunities to practice skills not seen or used during clinical rotations. Debriefing is an essential component of simulation where learning occurs while also fostering critical thinking, clinical reasoning, and promoting self-efficacy with clinical skills. However, the evidence rarely indicates which debriefing method is best at increasing clinical evaluation skills self-efficacy. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of debriefing methods on students’ clinical evaluation self-efficacy. Methods: In this quasi-experimental, retrospective pretest-posttest study the researcher explored the effect of four common debriefing methods on students’ clinical evaluation self-efficacy. Using the Confidence Rating Scale, the researcher collected students’ self-efficacy scores before and after a simulated experience with debriefing through an online survey that was distributed to current athletic training students. Results: The analysis did not find any statistically significant relationship between the type of debriefing method and pretest self-efficacy. There were also no statistically significant relationships found between the type of debriefing and students’ pretest to posttest changes in self-efficacy. Conclusions: The literature recognizes that debriefing is the component of simulation where learning occurs, but there remains minimal research on which debriefing method is the best at increasing students’ self-efficacy.