Promoting Athletic Training Through a General Education Course in Psychosocial Aspects of Sports Injuries

Context: A general education course taught by athletic training education faculty has the potential to expose the entire student body to the athletic training profession in a unique way while also meeting requirements of the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education. Objective: To introduce a detailed case study of a general education course taught by athletic training education faculty. Background: The general education curriculum is designed to enable students to appreciate and understand numerous disciplines. As a helping profession, athletic trainers are skilled at addressing a myriad of issues as they relate to an active individual's physical, psychological, and social well-being. Athletic training educators are ideal individuals to develop and teach courses demonstrating the interrelationships among psychology, sociology, and athletic training. Description: Detailed course topics and relevant supporting literature for the course are presented. Examples of techniques used in the course are provided to aid athletic training educators in the development of their own course. The challenges and rewards of offering a general education course are also outlined. Advantages: This course can expose the general student population to athletic training by fostering, introducing, and increasing collaboration among faculty, nontraditional teaching methods, and department/program productivity. Conclusion: A general education course developed and taught by athletic training education programs has both institutional and curricular value. Athletic training educators have knowledge and expertise with respect to musculoskeletal injury care and a unique understanding of a physically active individual's mindset following injury. These distinctive traits can help the entire student body understand and apply concepts of this course to their everyday lives.