Occupational Performance of College Student-Athletes
Graduation Date
2010
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy
Department
Occupational Therapy
Department or Program Chair
Ruth Ramsey, EdD, OTR/L
Thesis Advisor
Stacy Frauwirth, MS, OTR/L
Second Advisor
Ruth Ramsey, EdD, OTR/L
Abstract
College athletes must find ways to deal with the difficult task of balancing academics, athletics, work, activities of daily living (ADLs), instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), leisure, and social participation in order to have a similar college experience as non student-athletes. The purpose of this non-experimental, quantitative research study was to investigate how student-athletes are spending their time, the challenges they face in maintaining occupational balance, and how they perceive time management skills. Forty-four college student-athletes, from four different colleges and universities, took part in the study by completing a three-part survey consisting of questions regarding how athletes spent their time while in-season and during the offseason, occupational balance, and time management skills. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, one way analyses of variance, and independent sample t-tests. Results from the study showed that college student-athletes have an imbalance of occupations while in-season, which is majorly due to sport-participation. Results also showed that, overall, student-athletes believe they have fairly good time management skills, but they also believe their time management skills could use some improvements.