ABSTRACT

Personal trainers are a popular source of exercise guidance for the public but have been shown to have fundamental errors in their knowledge, and hold misconceptions about some exercise and nutritional concepts. Critical thinking skills have been found to relate inversely to misconceptions in other populations but this has not been examined in personal trainers. This study assessed the impact of an online, domain-specific, critical thinking course on the misconceptions and critical thinking ability (CTA) of personal trainers. One hundred and twenty-five participants were recruited into a randomised control trial. Participants completed measures of knowledge, misconceptions, CTA, and their use and perceived trustworthiness of sources of information about exercise and nutrition, then were allocated to either an intervention or control group. The intervention group completed the course over six weeks, while the control group waited six weeks before being surveyed again. Participants showed reduced endorsement of misconceptions and increased trust in reliable sources after completing the intervention. CTA improved in both the intervention and control groups. These results provide evidence that targeting critical thinking skills tailored to relevant content may contribute positively to the professional development of personal trainers.

摘要

私人教练是大众运动指导的热门来源，但事实证明他们的知识存在根本性错误，并对某些运动和营养概念存在误解。已发现批判性思维技能与其他人群的误解成反比，但这尚未在私人教练中进行检验。本研究评估了在线、特定领域的批判性思维课程对私人教练的误解和批判性思维能力 (CTA) 的影响。125 名参与者被招募到一项随机对照试验中。参与者完成了对知识、误解、CTA 以及他们对运动和营养信息来源的使用和感知可信度的测量，然后被分配到干预组或对照组。干预组在六周内完成了课程，而对照组等待六周后再次接受调查。在完成干预后，参与者对误解的认可减少，对可靠来源的信任增加。干预组和对照组的 CTA 均有所改善。这些结果提供了证据，表明针对相关内容量身定制的批判性思维技能可能对私人教练的专业发展做出积极贡献。