| Critical-thinking disposition, a component of clinical judgment, is cited as a necessary trait in the field of athletic training. Currently, information and evidence does not exist that measures critical-thinking disposition for graduate-level athletic training students. The purpose of this study was to measure critical-thinking dispositions of postprofessional graduate athletic-training students and to establish a critical-thinking disposition profile of graduate athletic-training students in all accredited postprofessional graduate athletic-training programs in the US using the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI).;Seven out of the 16 postprofessional graduate athletic-training programs agreed to participate in the current study. The CCTDI was administered to 137 first- and second-year postprofessional graduate athletic-training students during the beginning of the Spring 2010 semester. Upon gathering of these CCTDI overall and subscale means, the CCTDI data were related with the following variables to ascertain whether or not relationships exist: age, GPA, gender, certified or noncertified at the time of the inventory, number of times needed to pass the BOC athletic training certification exam, first- or second-year graduate students, and number of years as a certified athletic trainer.;This current study derived a critical-thinking disposition profile for graduate athletic-training students. Every subscale revealed a positive disposition toward critical-thinking disposition with the exception of truth-seeking and openmindedness with inquisitiveness achieving the highest overall mean. Overall, a majority of graduate athletic-training students had scores within the positive range as measured by the CCTDI. Additional variables investigated included age, gender, year in the graduate program, certification status, number of years certified, and number of attempts needed to pass the BOC examination, and all revealed weak to no relationship to the CCTDI and associated subscales. No statistical significance was obtained for any variables examined.;The results of this study suggest that graduate athletic-training students apply critical-thinking disposition but demonstrate ambivalence toward truth-seeking and openmindedness. Instructors should be aware and work to promote these two attributes when instructing students in didactic and clinical situations. In addition, graduate students should identify opportunities to seek a deeper understanding of information and be open to ideas or opinions that may differ from their own. |
