Athletic Trainer’s Self-Confidence and Experience Level in Managing Exertional Heat Related Illnesses

Test–Retest Reliability and Minimum Detectable Change of the Athletic Trainers’ Self-Confidence Scale

“…The calculated Cronbach's alpha for the ATSCS indicates that each of the nine items measures a single construct, self-confidence in recognizing and managing exertional heat illnesses. These results are consistent with the original internal consistency report by Griffes et al 8 on the assessment of certified ATs' self-confidence. Moderate test-retest reliability from the first test session to the third test session informs researchers that the ATSCS should identify actual changes in self-confidence that are not due to chance alone.…”

“…This questionnaire utilizes a 7-point Likert scale with 1 (strongly agree) and 7 (strongly disagree). 8 The lower the composite score, the higher the respondent's self-confidence level. All participants completed three testing sessions of the ATSCS with 48 hr between sessions.…”

“…7 The Athletic Trainers' Self-Confidence Scale (ATSCS; Appendix) was developed to measure certified ATs' self-confidence in skills related to recognizing and managing exertional heat illnesses. 8 In their study, Griffes et al 8 found that certified ATs had low selfconfidence in their abilities to insert a rectal thermistor and implement cold water immersion. This finding agrees with recent literature identifying a lack of selfconfidence for not utilizing best practices for recognizing and managing EHS.…”

“…To better understand the impact of EHS education methods, athletic training educators need a reliable and consistent tool to assess athletic training students' selfconfidence. While Griffes et al 8 identified that the ATSCS was internally consistent (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = .82) and had convergent validity for each item of the nine-item scale; the scale was not evaluated for its test-retest reliability. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the reliability and consistency of the ATSCS when completed by professional master of science in athletic training (MSAT) students.…”