The demands and expectations of athletic trainers working in the professional sport setting have increased over the years. Meeting these demands and expectations may predispose the athletic trainer to workplace stress and ultimately role strain. Role strain issues have been studied in a variety of health care professionals, such as nurses, physicians, and physical therapists. In athletic training, role strain has been studied in the collegiate and secondary school settings, but the organizational factors of the professional sport setting are different from those in the settings where role strain has been studied. The purpose of this study is to investigate the concept of role strain among athletic trainers working in the professional sports setting.
