Role of Informal Professional Socialization in Athletic Training Students’ Professional Commitment

Context Athletic training students must move through a professional socialization process in order to become athletic trainers. Although formal socialization has been found to cultivate aspirations to pursue a career in athletic training, little is known about the impact of informal professional socialization on athletic training students’ professional commitment. Objective Explore athletic training students’ informal professional socialization and their professional commitment to athletic training. Design Qualitative study. Setting Online interview. Patients or Other Participants Nine second-year professional master’s athletic training students (age = 23.8 ± 1.5 years; men = 1, women = 7, nonbinary participants = 1). Data Collection and Analysis Semistructured interviews were conducted, audio recorded, and transcribed. A 3-person analysis team used a multiphase process to create a consensual codebook represented by domains and categories from the responses. Trustworthiness and credibility of the consensus codebook were established through member checking, multianalyst triangulation, and auditing. Results Three domains emerged from analysis: (1) identity anchoring ; (2) influencers of professional identity ; and (3) identity vision . Before entering the program, the participants anchored their professional identity through interactions with health care professionals, sports, altruism, and personal interests. The clinical environment, interactions with mentors and peers, and professional development experiences influenced their professional identity and commitment when in the program. As a result, some participants identified a breadth of opportunities across various clinical settings and wanted to stay engaged in the profession, whereas some planned to migrate from the clinical practice and leave the profession. Conclusions Professional commitment in second-year professional master’s athletic training students was reflected in their professional identity formation, a process influenced by both formal and informal professional socialization. Athletic training programs should be cognizant of this impact and formulate strategies based on educational pedagogies and identity formation theories to create a strong professional identity and develop professional commitment.