Perceptions of Secondary School Athletic Trainers in the Diagnosis of Exertional Heat Stroke

Context: Health care providers, including athletic trainers (ATs), may not be using the best practices for diagnosing exertional heat stroke (EHS), including rectal thermometry. Therefore, patients continue to be susceptible to death from EHS. Objective: To examine the health belief model and its association with using rectal thermometry as the best practice for diagnosing EHS. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Web-based survey. Patients or Other Participants: A total of 208 secondary school ATs completed an online survey, and the data of 159 were included in the analysis. Main Outcome Measure(s): The survey contained 2 primary sections: AT characteristics and health belief model structured questions assessing perceptions and techniques used to diagnose EHS. Answers to the latter questions were rated on a 5-point Likert scale. We performed a binary logistic regression to ascertain the effects of the health belief model constants (eg, perceived susceptibility, barriers), age, sex, and the type of school at which the AT worked on the likelihood that participants would use best practice for diagnosing patients with EHS. Results: Only 33.3% (n = 53) of the participating ATs reported they used best practice, including rectal thermometers to obtain core body temperature. The binary logistic regression was different for the 5 constructs: perceived susceptibility (chi(2)(6) = 22.30, P =.001), perceived benefits (chi(2)(6) = 71.79, P,.001), perceived barriers (chi(2)(6) = 111.22, P<.001), perceived severity (chi(2)(6) = 56.27, P<.001), and self-efficacy (chi(2)(6) = 64.84, P<.001). Analysis of these data showed that older ATs were at greater odds (P <= .02) of performing best practice. Conclusions: These data suggested that the health belief model constructs were associated with the performance of best practice, including using rectal thermometry to diagnose EHS. Researchers should aim to create tailored interventions based on health behavior to improve the adoption of best practice.