The Effect of Fitness Consequences as an Intervention on the Academic Appointment Attendance Rates of Division III College Athletes

Abstract

The main purpose of this quasi-experimental design study was to determine the effect of a fitness consequence as a measure of accountability on the academic appointment attendance rates of Division III college athletes. Forty-four Division III college athletes participated in the study which spanned over a twelve week period. The null hypothesis is that there will be no significant difference in unexcused academic appointment attendance units missed during the six-week baseline period in which there are no consequences for missing appointments and during the sixweek intervention period in which there were fitness consequences for missing academic appointments. The six-week baseline phase did not contain any consequence for a missed academic appointment. The six-week period following the intervention being implemented included the student athletes facing a fitness consequence for missing an academic appointment. Initial analysis for this study did not yield any significant results however a supplementary analysis conducted with only student athletes who had missed one or more academic appointments during the baseline period resulted in significant outcomes. Further research should be conducted to explore how various intervention methods can be used most effectively to improve the academic appointment attendance rates of Division III college athletes.