Work Life Balance

"Athletic Training is a thankless job."

We hear this all too much it seems. On top of feeling under-compensated for the many responsibilities and hours we take on in our jobs, we hear things like this. It makes overworked, overstressed individuals feel guilty for wanting or expecting to feel more valued and appreciated. It's no surprise some of the biggest topics of debate for the last few years in athletic training has been about feeling under valued and under compensated.(2) In addition to these topics however, the opportunity to find and achieve adequate work life balance has become a central objective for athletic trainers and the National Athletic Trainers' Association. (1)

Work Life Balance is effectively managing one’s job, hobbies, responsibilities, and wellbeing in order to reduce conflicting experiences, such as burnout. (1) Seeing as Work Life Balance has been linked to a quality of life, having effects on personal and professional commitments, it's no wonder individuals are committed to obtaining an equilibrium. (1)

Working Americans are already reported to work more hours than the average person in other industrialized countries. Among these working Americans, health care professionals, namely athletic trainers are notorious for working over 40-hours a week. (1) Let me put it in perspective: the average in-season work week for an AT in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I setting was 63 hours per week. (1) Working over the standard 40-hour work week, greatly reduces the amount of time available for non work-related responsibilities and interests, increasing the risk of burnout. (1)

Burnout: a syndrome characterized by emotional and physical exhaustion and facilitated by prolonged stress, overload, and intermittent feelings of being undervalued and under-appreciated (1)

Do some of those contributing factors sound familiar? By understanding how different factors contribute to an individuals perceived work life balance, they are better able to create a sustainable and successful environment.

One of the most reported contributing factors to negative work life balance and burnout in athletic training is role strain. Role strain is defined as ‘‘a subjective state of emotional arousal in response to the external conditions of social stress’’ and occurs when one’s ‘‘role obligations are vague, irritating, difficult, conflicting, or impossible to meet. (1) Role strain can be further broken down into the following:

1. Role overload

   1. Role overload occurs when expected responsibilities are too time consuming. This is seen in athletic training through the lack of both schedule control and schedule flexibility.

2. Role conflict

   1. Role conflict occurs when role expectations compete with one another or when the expectations are incompatible, meaning that it is difficult to achieve 1 role when attending to another within a role set. For example, staffing patterns often cause an athletic trainer at a secondary school may be expected to cover a baseball game at the same time as a soccer game. (2)

3. Role ambiguity

   1. Role ambiguity, like it sounds, is when role expectations are unclear, and is related to negative outcomes such as depression and anxiety. role ambiguity is closely related to burnout, acting as a leading contributor to increased emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and decreased personal accomplishment; all of which are components of burnout.

4. Role incongruity

   1. Role incongruity occurs when the disposition of an individual is incompatible with the expectations of a given role. Athletic trainers may experience these feelings when arguing with a coach about a players return status for example; although we do not work for coaches, it often time feels that way in those situations. In fact, coaches' expectations and influence has been cited as a major factor that affects the demands of the profession.(2)

5. Role incompetence

   1. Role Incompetence is when the individual feels they lack the requisite skill or knowledge to execute the demands of an occupational role. This component is especially evident in the covid-19 pandemic. Many athletic trainers have been forced to assume the additional responsibilities that come with being a covid coordinator, something in which we as a world do not even fully understand yet. Despite knowing only what is available as public knowledge (i.e. what everyone else could know if they read…) athletic trainers are still entrusted with this role and all its responsibilities.

Frequent and significant role strain combined with the lack of perceived value, lack of compensation and lack of promotion or advancement opportunities, leaves athletic trainers at extremely high risk of burn out and leaving the profession. (1) (2) Because of this, it is important that individuals identify their priorities and build a sustainable work life balance plan around those priorities and values.

REFERENCES:

(1)Mazerolle SM, Pitney WA, Goodman A, et al. National Athletic Trainers' Association position statement: facilitating work-life balance in athletic training practice settings. Journal of athletic training. 2018;53(8):796-811.

(2) Mazerolle SM, Pitney WA, Casa DJ, Pagnotta KD. Assessing strategies to manage work and life balance of athletic trainers working in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I setting. Journal of athletic training. 2011;46(2):194-205.