You Don’t Have to be a Sport Psychologist to Effectively Teach in the Psychosocial Intervention and Referral Content Area! Jennifer Stiller-Ostrowski, PhD, ATC Jordan Hamson-Utley, PhD, ATC

Is Current Practice the Best Practice?  Where to “place” PIR educational competencies?  Majority of ATS are exposed to PIR content through lecture and discussion (Hamson-Utley & Stiller-Ostrowski, 2011 in review)  PIR content area received the lowest instructional emphasis rank (Hamson-Utley & Stiller-Ostrowski, 2011 in review)  ATs are not satisfied with their PIR education, not confident in abilities, and are not using techniques in clinical practice (Stiller-Ostrowski & Hamson-Utley, 2010)

Evidence-Based Best Practice  Literature suggests that role-based learning activities promote transfer of knowledge to the workplace (Russel & Shepherd, 2010; Swink, 1993)  Using active methods of instruction in the classroom has been shown to improve students’ learning (Chickering & Zelda, 1987)  Program directors who were confident in ATSs’ abilities were more likely to use role-play & other practical methods (Hamson- Utley & Stiller-Ostrowski, 2011 in review)  Should this class have a lab component??  Practical content  practical pedagogical methods

How We Use Our Class Time  Brief overview of the research  Discussions about WHEN and HOW we can practically implement techniques with athletes  Directed role-play activities with follow-up reflection questions  Sample role-play activity available at Lasell College website

Out-of-Class Assignments  Students develop and record psychological skills “scripts” for use with injured patients using Garageband or iMovie on the Mac and Premiere elements on the PC  Fill-in-the-blank worksheets where students identify rehabilitation barriers and strategies Sample fill-in-the-blank worksheet available at Lasell College website  Case studies with critical thinking questions

Integrating into the Clinical Setting  Reflective Journaling assignments  Students reflect on what went well, what could have gone better, and how they would go about approaching the athlete differently the next time to improve the outcome  Sample reflective journal assignment available at Lasell College website

Best Practice conclusions

Questions? Jennifer Ostrowski Lasell College Jordan Hamson-Utley Weber State University Website for Handouts: Athletic-Training-and-Sports-Science/Faculty/ Jennifer-Ostrowski.html