Rehabilitation Sciences

• Certificate (Not Applicable)

   

• Associate Degree (Not Applicable)

   

• Bachelor Degree

  At the end of their study at WSU, students in the Athletic Therapy program will have a solid foundation in:

  • Educating participants and managing risk for safe performance and function.
  • Implementing standard evaluation techniques and formulating a clinical impression for the determination of a course of action.
  • Employing standard care procedures and communicating outcomes for efficient and appropriate care of the injured.
  • Reconditioning participants for optimal performance and function.
  • Understanding and adhering to approved organizational and professional practices and guidelines to ensure individual and organizational well-being.

The Athletic Therapy Program is designed for students preparing to pursue graduate study in allied health such as, athletic training, physical therapy, occupational therapy, physician's assistant, and/or medicine. The program was approved by the Weber State University Board of Trustees November 2008 and began matriculating Athletic Therapy majors January 2009. The curriculum provides students a foundation in the health sciences with an emphasis in musculoskeletal injuries. Additionally, students can pursue honors recognition in Athletic Therapy through additional curricular and program requirements

Athletic Therapy Department Website

The assessment plan is designed to ascertain the level of success in meeting the Program’s Learning Outcomes and Program Learning Goals. Proficiency of students to attain the Program’s Learning Outcomes and Program Learning Goals will be accomplished through the ability of students to achieve the outcomes identified in the outcomes report (a 70% or better on written and oral/practical exams as well as major projects in key courses) as well as earning a ‘B-’ or better in their Athletic Therapy Major Courses and a ‘C’ or better in the Support Courses. Moreover, students are required to maintain a cumulative 3.0 grade point average to maintain their program status. The evaluation of grades and GPA will be conducted each semester by the Program Director.

In addition, we track each student’s successful completion of at least one internship experience (3 credits minimum = 180 internship hours) in their future field of study (athletic training, physical therapy, occupational therapy, medicine, etc.) via their hours log for the course (AT 4890) as well as their evaluation by their clinical supervisor.

• 2021-2022

   

• 2019-2020
   
• 2017

  1) Based on your program’s assessment findings, what subsequent action will your program take?

  • The Athletic Training/Athletic Therapy Faculty were satisfied with the outcomes achieved by the Athletic Therapy students during the 2016-17 academic year.  We have already met all of the recommendations from our in-depth program review that was conducted during the 2013-14 academic year. The Athletic Therapy Program went through a curriculum change that was implemented for the 2015-2016 academic year. As the undergraduate athletic training program is phased out, the AT 3300 and 3301 (Lower and upper evaluation courses, respectively) courses will need to be modified to better accommodate pre-professional athletic therapy students. We are planning to submit a curriculum proposal in early Spring 2018 that will include course substitutions, additional elective courses, and modifications to existing courses. Our hope is that this proposal will be approved and be effective Fall 2018. Therefore, the Assessment Reports will likely change in the years to come. 

   

   

  2) We are interested in better understanding how departments/programs assess their graduating seniors or graduate students. Please provide a short narrative describing the practices/curriculum in place for your department/program. Please include both direct and indirect measures employed. Finally, what were your findings from this past year’s graduates

   

  • We do not currently assess the outcomes of graduates from the Athletic Therapy program. However, we do have our graduating seniors complete a senior exit survey to determine their satisfaction with various aspects of the program. All Athletic Therapy majors do take the AT 4650 course (Management for Athletic Therapy majors) that serves to prepare students for their future careers and graduate programs.  We help students prepare their resumes, cover letters/graduate school essays, and their career portfolios (LinkedIn profiles). We also talk about broader issues in healthcare such as insurance/billing, legal issues, ethical considerations, and management/leadership.  This class culminates in a group project where they design a healthcare facility, hire staff, purchase equipment and supplies and develop a policies and procedures/risk management plan for the facility.  This project requires them to apply all of the knowledge they have learned throughout the program.  In the future, it would be my goal to implement an alumni survey for students who have graduated from the Athletic Therapy program. This would provide us insight into whether students are or have attended graduate school after obtaining their Bachelor’s degree, and or what type of career they are pursuing. I plan to discuss this project with our department’s academic advisor to determine its feasibility and implementation.

   

  The full report is available for viewing.

• 2016

  1) Based on your program’s assessment findings, what subsequent action will your program take?

  • The Athletic Training/Athletic Therapy Faculty were satisfied with the outcomes achieved by the Athletic Therapy students during the 2015-16 academic year.  We have already met all of the recommendations from our in-depth program review that was conducted during the 2013-14 academic year. The Athletic Therapy Program went through a curriculum change that was implemented for the 2015-2016 academic year. We are continually assessing the plan and our Assessment Plan will likely change for next year’s annual report to capture this continual assessment.  As the undergraduate athletic training program is phased out, we will be reviewing the AT 3300 and 3301 (Lower and upper evaluation courses, respectively) to determine what the curriculum in these courses should be in the future.  We have also considered merging these two courses into a one-semester course, similar what we’ve done with the Modalities and Rehabilitation courses.

   

  2) We are interested in better understanding how departments/programs assess their graduating seniors. Please provide a short narrative describing the practices/curriculum in place for your department/program. Please include both direct and indirect measures employed.

  • We do not currently assess graduating seniors, regarding their retention of content knowledge.  All Athletic Therapy majors do take the AT 4650 course (Management for Athletic Therapy majors) that serves to prepare students for their future careers and graduate programs.  We help students prepare their resumes, cover letters/graduate school essays, and their career portfolios (LinkedIn profiles). We also talk about broader issues in healthcare such as insurance/billing, legal issues, ethical considerations, and management/leadership.  This class culminates in a group project where they design a healthcare facility, hire staff, purchase equipment and supplies and develop a policies and procedures/risk management plan for the facility.  This project requires them to apply all of the knowledge they have learned throughout the program. 
  • We also have our graduating seniors complete a senior exit survey to determine their satisfaction with various aspects of the program.

   

  3) Are there assessment strategies within your department or program that you feel are particularly effective and/or innovative? If so, what are those strategies and what do you learn about your students by using them?

  • The Athletic Therapy Program has the most similarities to the Athletic Training Programs (BSAT and MSAT) within the Department of Athletic Training and Nutrition. The Athletic Therapy program uses oral practical exams (AT 2300, 3300, and 3301) to simulate interactions with real patients. Through implementing oral practical assessments, we learn how the student applies the didactic knowledge to an interaction with a simulated patient. 

   

  The full report is available for viewing. 

• 2015

  1) Based on your program’s assessment findings, what subsequent action will your program take?

  • The Athletic Training/Athletic Therapy Faculty were satisfied with the outcomes achieved by the Athletic Therapy students during the 2014-15 academic year.  We have already all of the recommendations from our in-depth program review that was conducted during the 2013-14 academic year. The Athletic Therapy Program went through a curriculum change that was implemented for the 2015-2016 academic year. We are continually assessing the plan and our Assessment Plan will likely change for next year’s annual report to capture this continual assessment.

   

  2) Are there assessment strategies within your department or program that you feel are particularly effective and/or innovative? If so, what are those strategies and what do you learn about your students by using them?

  • The Athletic Therapy Program has the most similarities to the Athletic Training Programs (BS AT and MS AT) within the Department of Athletic Training and Nutrition. The Athletic Training Programs use oral practical exams to simulate interactions with real patients. This assessment strategy is also used in the Athletic Therapy Program, however more vital in the Athletic Training Program. Through implementing oral practical assessments, we learn how the student implement the written knowledge, assessed through written exams, is expressed with a patient. A different level of understanding and confidence in knowledge is required when interacting with a simulated patient.

  
  The full report is available for viewing.

• 2014
  1) Reflecting on this year’s assessment(s), how does the evidence of student learning impact your faculty’s confidence in the program being reviewed; how does that analysis change when compared with previous assessment evidence?

   

  • To answer this question, compare evidence from prior years to the evidence from the current year.  Discuss trends of evidence that increases your confidence in the strengths of the program.  Also, discuss trends of concern (e.g. students struggling to achieve particular student outcomes). 
  • During the 2013-14 academic year, the Athletic Therapy Program completed an in-depth program review process.  Several issues were identified during the process and the faculty have already begun to implement changes to address these issues.  See Appendix A on the previous page for details regarding the suggestions and how we have begun to make adjustments where possible.
  • Overall, our student learning outcomes are being met and are students are successfully entering their graduate programs of choice.  We have also submitted program changes through the curriculum process this year to allow more flexibility in elective choices for the Athletic Therapy majors.  It has been approved by the College of Education Curriculum Committee and will be reviewed by the University Curriculum Committee later in the month of October.

   
  2) With whom did you share the results of the year’s assessment efforts?

  • The outcomes results were reviewed and discussed with all full-time Athletic Training/Athletic Therapy faculty members and the Department Chair in the Department of Health Promotion and Human Performance.

   
  3) Based on your program’s assessment findings, what subsequent action will your program take?

  • The Athletic Training/Athletic Therapy Faculty were satisfied with the outcomes achieved by the Athletic Therapy students during the 2013-14 academic year.  Appendix A detailed other changes were are working on including hiring a lab manager, evaluating the advising plan to help students determine the correct prerequisite courses to take, hiring a 5th full-time faculty member, and establishing an external advisory committee.

  
  The full report is available for viewing

• 2013

  
  The Athletic Therapy Program conducted a 5 year program review with full self-study during the spring of 2014. Those results are presented in place of the Annual Assessment. Please reference those documents for information that includes data for the 2012/13 academic year.

The Program Review is available for viewing.

2013-14