{"title":"Impact of Student Debt on the Personal and Professional Lives of Certified Athletic Trainers.","authors":"Gianluca Del Rossi, Brian Hatzel","doi":"10.21091/jah.2026.01020","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Context: </strong>Borrowers with considerable student debt may experience pronounced financial constraints that can potentially impact their ability to achieve desired personal and professional goals following transition to practice. The objective of this study was to identify and examine the personal and professional impacts, if any, that student debt may have on certified athletic trainers.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A validated, online web-based survey was disseminated to a convenience sample of 18,689 athletic trainers who were members of the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA). Likert scale and yes/no questions were used to determine whether student debt impacted the career choices, financial health, attainment of life milestones, career satisfaction, perceived quality of life, and self-reported stress/anxiety levels of certified athletic trainers. The response rate for the survey was 12.2%.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Student debt impacts the practice setting athletic trainers choose to enter, where they choose to live and work, and which job they eventually accept. Also, the financial strain that comes from having significant monthly repayment obligations is a source of stress/anxiety for a majority of athletic trainers who completed the study and associated with self-reported decreased quality of life. Additionally, the financial uncertainty that accompanies student debt burden has personal repercussions, as a significant number of athletic trainers indicated that their debt load had resulted in the deferment or abandonment of at least one of life's important milestones.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Student debt can affect an individual's ability to thrive both personally and professionally following transition to practice. More research is needed to enhance our understanding of the interactions between student debt and the personal and professional lives of athletic trainers so that proactive steps can be taken to mitigate the effects of student debt.</p>","PeriodicalId":35979,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Allied Health","volume":"55 1","pages":"109-120"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Allied Health","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.21091/jah.2026.01020","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Context: Borrowers with considerable student debt may experience pronounced financial constraints that can potentially impact their ability to achieve desired personal and professional goals following transition to practice. The objective of this study was to identify and examine the personal and professional impacts, if any, that student debt may have on certified athletic trainers.
Methods: A validated, online web-based survey was disseminated to a convenience sample of 18,689 athletic trainers who were members of the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA). Likert scale and yes/no questions were used to determine whether student debt impacted the career choices, financial health, attainment of life milestones, career satisfaction, perceived quality of life, and self-reported stress/anxiety levels of certified athletic trainers. The response rate for the survey was 12.2%.
Results: Student debt impacts the practice setting athletic trainers choose to enter, where they choose to live and work, and which job they eventually accept. Also, the financial strain that comes from having significant monthly repayment obligations is a source of stress/anxiety for a majority of athletic trainers who completed the study and associated with self-reported decreased quality of life. Additionally, the financial uncertainty that accompanies student debt burden has personal repercussions, as a significant number of athletic trainers indicated that their debt load had resulted in the deferment or abandonment of at least one of life's important milestones.
Conclusions: Student debt can affect an individual's ability to thrive both personally and professionally following transition to practice. More research is needed to enhance our understanding of the interactions between student debt and the personal and professional lives of athletic trainers so that proactive steps can be taken to mitigate the effects of student debt.
期刊介绍：
The Journal of Allied Health is the official publication of the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions (ASAHP) . The Journal is the only interdisciplinary allied health periodical, publishing scholarly works related to research and development, feature articles, research abstracts and book reviews. Readers of The Journal comprise allied health leaders, educators, faculty and students. Subscribers to The Journal consist of domestic and international college and university libraries, health organizations and hospitals. Almost 20% of subscribers, in the last three years, have been from outside of the United States. Subscribers include the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association and major universities.
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