| As Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) has progressed within medicine, nursing, and physical therapy, athletic training has been subsequently slow to infuse EBP and its associated concepts at the professional level. The aim of Project I was to determine athletic training instructors experience and use of evidence-based concepts (EBC) during instruction through emergent design qualitative interviews. Project II was designed to establish the Evidence-Based Teaching Model (EBTM) as a tool for athletic training educators' to use to introduce EBP concepts to professional students.;Project I featured 11 educators from Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) programs. Instructors identified primary approaches to EBC implementation within their programs: curricular emphasis, teaching strategies, and student activities that followed Bloom's revised taxonomy. Categories of need for EBP instruction including respect for the athletic training profession, use of EBP as part of the decision-making toolbox, and for third-party reimbursement were found in Project 1B. Barriers included time, role strain, knowledge, and the gap between clinical and educational practices. Strategies for surmounting barriers included identifying a starting point for inclusion and approaching implementation from a faculty perspective.;Project II included nine educators and their respective students for program evaluation of the EBTM and analysis of the effects of the EBTM on student knowledge, attitudes, and use of EBCs. The EBTM was designed to instruct the five core steps of EBCs. Overall, instructors valued the EBTM to implement EBCs and perceived it as a user-friendly teaching tool. Assignments requiring direct interaction between students and approved clinical instructors were considered most favorable. Eighty-two students underwent a within subjects' pre/post-test evaluation through the Evidence-Based Concepts: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Use (EBCKAU) survey; 78 students (95%) completed the knowledge portion of the evaluations, while 68 (83%) fully completed the knowledge, attitudes, and use portions of the survey. Students significantly increased their knowledge, confidence in knowledge, familiarity, and confidence in use of EBP skills. Prior to the EBTM, students mean knowledge was 50% correct overall, with post-EBTM mean scores increasing to 66%. Students' interest and importance scores did not increase. Student barriers included time, available resources, ACI open-mindedness, and experience. |
