By Christine Baugh
A recent study indicates that college athletic trainers feel bullied on the job. The study, published in the Journal of Athletic Training, surveyed 723 collegiate athletic trainers, and found that approximately 15% of them felt that they were the victim of workplace harassment and about 20% had witnessed an instance of workplace bullying. Although there were no differences found in who was bullied, the bullies were identified as predominantly male and were most often coaches. A related examination of the perceptions of bullying in this environment, consisting of semi-structured qualitative interviews with select collegiate athletic trainers, identified structural factors associated with increased bullying and suggested workplace training as a potential solution.
The findings of these studies are in line with previous work describing the college sports medicine working environment as fraught with conflicts of interest (discussed in a previous blog post: here). However, the prevalence of bullying found in this study is actually lower than found in other studies examining bullying in other medical workplaces. That said, NCAA guidance suggests that medical professionals, including athletic trainers, should be given “unchallengeable authority” with regards to medical decision-making in the college sports medicine setting. Bullying in the college sports medicine setting occurred more frequently, according to the recent studies, when there was administrative indifference that allowed individuals who “lack respect for the athletic training professional” to act on his feelings.
Given the primary role of the athletic trainers as healthcare providers in the college sports medicine setting, it is possible that the hostility experienced in the workplace ultimately affects collegiate athlete health outcomes. Future research examining the interaction between athletic trainer workplace experience and athlete health outcomes is needed, as are interventions to ensure that athletic trainers are allowed to provide healthcare to collegiate athletes without external impediment.
