| Leadership skills are deemed important by experts and practitioners in the field. While some leadership characteristics might be innate, it is widely accepted that leadership skills can be learned. However, there is little research investigating how Athletic Trainers engage in leadership development. Clinical collegiate Athletic Trainers might face barriers to engaging in leadership development based on their work setting. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions, practices, barriers, and preferred delivery methods of leadership development among clinical collegiate Athletic Trainers. The participants were 1000 randomly-selected Athletic Trainers who currently work in a clinical setting at the collegiate level. A quantitative cross-sectional online survey developed for this study was distributed via email. The response rate was 18.7%. The survey instrument included demographic questions, and questions regarding the definition and importance of leadership, current and past methods of participation in leadership development, and barriers to leadership development. The results indicate that most respondents perceive leadership development to be important to the profession and should be conducted throughout an Athletic Trainer's entire career (81%). About half of the respondents (47%) have engaged in leadership development in the past year, mostly utilizing informal methods of leadership development. Respondents primarily prefer to participate in less-structured leadership development opportunities and list time as their largest barrier to engaging in leadership development. New format methods might be investigated to address preferences and barriers. Athletic Trainers need to be intentional with assessing learning, behavioral, and organizational outcomes even when engaging in informal leadership development methods. |
