Gaining Access to Providing Medical Care to Male Sport Teams: The Female Athletic Trainer Perspective

Abstract

Context: Female athletic trainers (ATs) can face barriers to employment within the profession. Although there is evidence for an increasing percentage of women in athletic training, the portion providing medical care to male sport teams within the professional sport and collegiate settings continues to be small.Objective: To investigate the experiences of female ATs when seeking employment with male sport teams within the Division I setting.Design: Qualitative study. Setting: National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I.Patients or Other Participants: A total of 15 NCAA Division I female ATs providing medical care to a male sport team participated in our study. Their mean age was 33 6 9 years, and they had a mean of 11 6 9 years of overall clinical experience.Data Collection and Analysis: All participants completed one-on-one phone interviews, which were recorded and transcribed. Analysis of the data followed thematic analysis using a phenomenologic approach. Credibility was established through credibility checks, peer review, and researcher triangulation.Results: Factors that played a role in women gaining employment with male sport teams were (1) preexisting professional relationships, (2) prior experience with a male sport, and (3) perseverance. Participants in our study were most attracted to their current positions because of (1) the environment of the collegiate setting and (2) the location of the university.Conclusions: Job access for female ATs in this study was not viewed as a challenge. Familiarity through previous connections with the university and staff and commitment to career goals helped these women obtain the positions they held. The desire to work in male sports was not a primary contributing factor to the decision-making process. Progress continues for women in athletic training, as evidenced by the reported ease of job access with male sport teams.Key Words: job attractors, job access, hiring practices Key PointsPreexisting professional relationships, prior experience with a male sport, and perseverance were identified as key factors that contributed to female athletic trainers' obtaining positions with male sport teams. Primary attractors to employment were the collegiate setting and university location. Job access for female athletic trainers working with male sport teams was not viewed as a challenge.A once male-dominated field, athletic training now includes more women (54.5%) than men (45.3%). 1Despite the increase in female athletic trainers (ATs), only a small number of them have been able to break the barrier of working with male sport teams, particularly among National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and professional sports.2 Only a quarter of all full-time athletic training positions in the Division I setting were filled by women, 3 and an even smaller portion of these were positions higher than assistant or associate AT.3-5 A search 6 of female ATs working with high-profile male athletes revealed that only a small number had broken the male professio...

Focus areas and methodological characteristics of North American-based health disparity research in sports medicine: a scoping review

“…The included research articles were classified into five mutually exclusive primary focus areas during the data extraction phase: (1) access to and participation in sports , (2) access to SEM care , (3) health-related outcomes in SEM , (4) study methodology and (5) provider representation in SEM (table 1, online supplemental table S4). Most included studies were related to access to and participation in sports (n=45, 44%),17–61 followed by access to SEM care (n=28, 27%),62–89 health-related outcomes in SEM (n=24, 23%),90–113 provider representation in SEM (n=5, 5%)114–118 and methodology (n=1, 1%) 119…”

“…Most included studies used a cross-sectional study design (n=74), which was inclusive of retrospective cohort studies (table 2, online supplemental table S5). 18 studies included qualitative methodology,21 31 33 35 39 43 46 53 54 56 61 69 75 87 94 95 117 118 with 3 using mixed methods 33 69 94. Nine studies were prospective cohort studies,27 28 60 68 77 89 90 107 119 and only two studies used a community-based participatory research framework 42 55.…”

“…(1) access to and participation in sports, (2) access to SEM care, (3) health-related outcomes in SEM, (4) study methodology and (5) provider representation in SEM (table 1, online supplemental table S4). Most included studies were related to access to and participation in sports (n=45, 44%), followed by access to SEM care (n=28, 27%), health-related outcomes in SEM (n=24, 23%), provider representation in SEM (n=5, 5%) [114][115][116][117][118] and methodology (n=1, 1%). 119 Across all domains, race/ethnicity (n=40, 39%), socioeconomic status (SES, n=27, 26%) and sex (n=27, 26%) were the most studied potential causes of health disparities (table 1).…”