Program Directors' Perceptions of Professional Bachelor's Athletic Training Student Decisions to Persist and Depart

Context: Recent literature has focused on reasons for athletic training student persistence and departure. However, accredited professional bacheloru0027s athletic training program (ATP) directorsu0027 opinions regarding student retention have yet to be studied, to our knowledge. Objective: To determine reasons for athletic training student persistence and departure from professional bacheloru0027s ATPs across the United States from the program directorsu0027 (PDsu0027) perspective. Design: Two-part qualitative study. Setting: Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education professional bacheloru0027s ATPs. Patients or Other Participants: For Part 1 of this study, we asked PDs of all 343 ATPs to complete an online survey, gathering responses from 177 (51.6%). Using data saturation as a guide, Part 2 included performing follow-up telephone interviews to gain further understanding, clarity, and triangulation with 16 randomly selected PDs. Main Outcome Measure(s): During Part 1, participants chronicled responses to open-...