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Individual Moral Philosophies and Ethical Decision–Making of Undergraduate Athletic Training Education Students and Instructors

Caswell, Shane Vincent

Abstract Details

2003, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, Educational Research and Evaluation (Education).

This study investigates if differences exist in students’ and instructors’ ethical ideologies and ethical decision-making. Ethics comprises only a small portion of the athletic training curriculum, which is a competency-based model. Ethical decision-making, however, is vital to practice effectively across clinical settings, and an individual’s ethical ideology may affect athletic training practitioners’ ethical decision-making abilities. The Ethics Position (EPQ) and Dilemmas in Athletic Training Questionnaires (DAT-Q) assessed respondents’ ethical ideologies and ethical decision-making. Respondents (N = 598) included 373 females (62.4%) and 225 males (37.6%), ranging in age from 18 to 63 years (M = 23.5, SD = 6.3). Principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation revealed both the EPQ and DAT-Q to possess reasonable construct validity. Internal consistency of the EPQ’s idealism and relativism subscales and the DAT-Q scale were .79, .72 and .82, respectively. Overall, respondents reported higher idealism (M = 37.56, SD = 4.91) than relativism scores (M = 31.70, SD = 4.80). The mean DAT-Q score for all respondents was (M = 80.76, SD = 7.88). The research design incorporated three separate 2 (gender) x 3 (educational status) factorial ANOVAs utilizing idealism, relativism and DAT-Q scores as dependent measures. The main effect for gender illustrated that males reported significantly higher relativism scores, F (1, 592) = 9.183, p < .05, η² = .015, than females. The main effect for educational status revealed significant differences between students’ and instructors’ idealism, F (2, 592) = 3.99, p < .05, η² = .013, relativism, F (2, 592) = 15.53, p < .001, η² = .050, and DAT-Q scores, F (2, 592) = 8.06, p < .001, η² = .027. Post–hoc analysis using Tukey’s HSD indicated instructors possessed lower idealism and relativism scores and higher DAT-Q scores than students. Findings do not support changes in athletic training educational practices to address gender specific needs. This was the first study of its kind in athletic training. Findings should serve as a baseline for future research examining students’ and instructors’ ethical ideologies and ethical decision-making levels.

Ralph Martin (Advisor)
243 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Caswell, S. V. (2003). Individual Moral Philosophies and Ethical Decision–Making of Undergraduate Athletic Training Education Students and Instructors [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1061327077

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Caswell, Shane. Individual Moral Philosophies and Ethical Decision–Making of Undergraduate Athletic Training Education Students and Instructors. 2003. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1061327077.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Caswell, Shane. "Individual Moral Philosophies and Ethical Decision–Making of Undergraduate Athletic Training Education Students and Instructors." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2003. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1061327077

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)