Factors Influencing a Student\u27s Choice of a Graduate Professional Athletic Training Program

Context As the professional degree in athletic training transitions to the master\u27s level, a growing concern for programs is enrollment. Understanding the factors that influence a student\u27s choice of a graduate program in athletic training will provide institutions with vital information for marketing and enrollment management. Objective To explore factors that influence a student\u27s choice of a professional graduate athletic training program. Design Cross-sectional. Setting Online survey. Patients or Other Participants A total of 52 participants from a convenience sample of 140 graduate students enrolled in a graduate professional athletic training program completed the survey: 43 females (82.7%) and 9 males (17.3%). Data Collection and Analysis Data collection took place over 4 weeks between April and May 2019. Participants completed an online questionnaire that consisted of 11 demographic items, 6 Likert-scale items about factors that may have influenced school choice, and 2 open-ended questions about career goals and pursuing a doctoral degree. We calculated descriptive statistics, frequency distributions, and percentages. Results Factors ranked as very important in influencing a student\u27s choice fell within the categories of athletic training program and athletic training program faculty. Those ranked as not important were related to ethnicity and gender. Additionally, over half of the participants indicated an intended career path within the college or professional setting. Conclusions Although a variety of factors can influence a student\u27s choice of graduate school, today\u27s consumer seems mostly interested in program factors such as Board of Certification pass rate, accreditation status, and clinical sites. As programs transition to the graduate level, marketing and recruitment strategies should be designed around these factors to ensure enrollment

A Qualitative Exploration of Fijian Perceptions of Diabetes: Identifying Opportunities for Prevention and Management

Rates of diabetes are high in many communities of Pacific Island peoples, including people from Fiji. This qualitative study explores knowledge and attitudes towards diabetes among i-Taukei Fijians to facilitate the cultural tailoring of diabetes prevention and management programs for this community. Fijians aged 26 to 71 years (n = 15), residing in Australia, participated in semi-structured interviews; 53% (n = 8) were male. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, then thematically analyzed. Diabetes is recognized as an important and increasing health problem requiring action in the i-Taukei Fijian community. Widespread support for culturally appropriate lifestyle interventions utilizing existing societal structures, like family networks and church groups, was apparent. These structures were also seen as a crucial motivator for health action. Intervention content suggestions included diabetes risk awareness and education, as well as skills development to improve lifestyle behaviors. Leveraging existing social structures and both faith and family experiences of diabetes within the Fijian community may help convert increased awareness and understanding into lifestyle change. Ongoing in-community support to prevent and manage diabetes was also regarded as important. We recommend building upon experience from prior community-based interventions in other high-risk populations, alongside our findings, to assist in developing tailored diabetes programs for Fijians

Analysing Persistent Language Applications

Most research into persistent programming has been directed towards the design and implementation of languages and object stores. There are few reports on the characteristics of systems exploiting such technology. This paper reports on a study of the source code of 20 applications consisting of more than 108,000 lines of persistent language code. The authors of the applications range from students to experienced programmers. The programs have been categorised and examined with respect to a persistent application model and the extent of inconsistencies relative to this model is presented. The results confirm the need for and give input to the design of programming methodologies and tools for persistent software engineering. Measurements also include the use of names, types, (polymorphic) procedures and persistent bindings. It is hoped that analysis of the measurements will be used as input to the next generation of languages and programming environments. As part of this new generation, ..