With the mandate of a clinical immersion for athletic training students (ATSs) by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) for accredited athletic training programs, a need exists to identify problems and concerns experienced by stakeholders. Current research identifies issues and concerns related to many aspects of clinical education, but few have addressed issues specific to the newly mandated clinical immersion. Furthermore, the issues addressed by research related to clinical immersion are from the perspective of program administrators and not students. The purposes of this study were to examine the perceived challenges ATSs faced during an immersive clinical experience (ICE), the extent of the effect of those challenges, investigate the coping strategies ATSs used to overcome those challenges, whether those challenges and coping strategies were the same regardless of demographics and clinical placements, and the ATSs’ overall impression of their ICE.
