Towards sport and exercise science education informed by sociology

The authors make a case for thinking more sociologically when it comes to sport and exercise science undergraduate degree programmes

The role of BACP in maximising the potential of counselling and psychological therapies research in the UK:benefitting clients, communities, and societies

The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) is the largest professional membership body within the field of counselling and psychological therapies in the UK, but there is a mismatch between its membership of >65,000 and its research impact. This article sets out a potential strategic direction as considered by an informal grouping of researchers and teachers in the field. Actionable research plans are outlined at three levels: client–practitioner, local communities, and societies. At the client–practitioner level, data‐informed practice can be readily implemented as a therapeutic aid akin to supervision, providing the potential for integrating research into everyday practice. At the community level, interdisciplinary collaborations together with a focus on equality, diversity, and inclusiveness are paths to building a community of researchers and citizens that includes marginalised populations. The importance of social justice extends to the societal level, connecting with politics at a micro and macro level, and engaging internationally to respond to actual threats (e.g., climate change). Across these three levels, high value is placed on data with its potential for informing and improving practice, but also enhancing the lives of people in communities and societies. Overall, research strategies need to be collaborative (i.e., collegial) and less singular (i.e., individually project‐based), developing cumulative knowledge around specific topics via a ‘capture and build’ strategy for small projects with strategic oversight by BACP. Clarity of research strategy combined with collaborative and collective action from BACP and leaders in the field can help realise the full potential of BACP's research capacity

What do we know about ‘rape myth’ research and the claim that there is ‘overwhelming evidence’ that juries are prejudiced in rape trials?

This paper examines the research by Fiona Leverick and demonstrates the methodological flaws in much of the ‘rape myth’ and mock jury research. Other ideas about rape myths and the ‘justice gap’ are explored and seen to be questionable. Furthermore, through a detailed examination of the rape myth acceptance scales, which Leverick describes as being ‘scientifically validated’, we trace the ideological and political-ethical nature of these scales and show a clear one-sidedness in how researchers have used them. Most particularly, we find that there is one-sidedness when it comes to the question of victim empathy. One result of this is that mock jury research has indicated that victim empathetic participants are finding individuals guilty of rape, despite the lack of evidence, and almost nothing has been said about the potential miscarriages of justice being demonstrated in these cases. The argument is thus made that rather than there being overwhelming evidence of rape myth prejudices amongst the public, there appears to be a one-sidedness amongst most rape myth researchers that is encouraging a sentiment of victim empathy that could distort the principles of justice regarding defendants being innocent until proven guilty based on a need to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.</p

Identity gripping or identity flight? Two distinct experiences correlated with self-reported depression in retired professional ice hockey players

This study presents qualitative data on the retirement experiences of retired professional ice hockey players and the relationship of these experiences to self-reported depressive symptoms and measures of athletic identity. Data were obtained from an online survey sent to retired professional hockey players within the Professional Hockey Players’ Association (PHPA) database. A total of 213 retired players completed the qualitative section of the survey and were included in the study. Former players expressed an array of responses to questions about the best and most difficult parts of their athletic retirement experiences, and what they believe would help future generations of retiring hockey players. Within these responses, there were two distinct patterns of identity-based challenges among depressed former players. One subset of depressed former players, captured by our proposed term athletic identity flight, scored lower in athletic identity, and emphasized positive aspects of retirement related to “building a new identity.” A second subset of depressed former players, who we described with the term athletic identity gripping, noted an identity crisis upon retiring and retained a strong athletic identity post-career. Non-depressed former players in our sample were more likely to emphasize the importance of career support to help future retiring hockey players, whereas depressed former players emphasized the importance of mental health support. Our findings may inform future preventative interventions to assist retiring hockey players in their end-of-athletic-career transition and suggest the value of tailoring interventions based on the strength of athletic identity and the presence of depressive symptoms

Game design as play:players as designers

This document discusses the design and development of the Game Design as Play: Players as Designers research project. Game Design as Play is a project investigating games that are actively designed by their players during play through both a series of workshops and the development of a tabletop game called making it up as we go along.Making it up as we go along draws from the philosopher Peter Suber’s Nomic (Suber, 1990), Bernie De Koven’s concept of the Well-Played Game (De Koven,2013), and concepts from critical pedagogy (Freire, 2017) and participatory art (Bishop, 2012),, in an attempt to flatten the hierarchy between game designer and game player. Players take turns to add and remove rules from the game as they play, acting as both game designer and player, and by necessity engaging in a dialogue about game design and their shared interest in playing together.</div

The self‐reference effect in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

The self‐memory system depends on the prioritization and capture of self‐relevant information, so may be disrupted by difficulties in attending to, encoding and retrieving self‐relevant information. The current study compares memory for self‐referenced and other‐referenced items in children with ADHD and typically developing comparison groups matched for verbal and chronological age. Children aged 5–14 (N = 90) were presented with everyday objects alongside an own‐face image (self‐reference trials) or an unknown child's image (other‐referenced trials). They were asked whether the child shown would like the object, before completing a surprise source memory test. In a second task, children performed, and watched another person perform, a series of actions before their memory for the actions was tested. A significant self‐reference effect (SRE) was found in the typically developing children (i.e. both verbal and chronological age‐matched comparison groups) for the first task, with significantly better memory for self‐referenced than other‐referenced objects. However, children with ADHD showed no SRE, suggesting a compromised ability to bind information with the cognitive self‐concept. In the second task, all groups showed superior memory for actions carried out by the self, suggesting a preserved enactment effect in ADHD. Implications and applications for the self‐memory system in ADHD are discussed

Improved physical health in middle-older aged golf caddies following 24-weeks of high-volume physical activity

Background: The physical demands of golf caddying, including walking while carrying a golf bag, may potentially affect body composition, and markers of metabolic, cardiovascular, and musculoskeletal health. Therefore, this study examined the impact of 24 weeks of caddying on physical health in middle-older aged males. Methods: Eleven full-time experienced male caddies (age: 59 [8] y; caddying experience: 14 [12] y) were recruited from a local golf course. The following were assessed at preseason and after 24 weeks of caddying (March–September 2022): body composition, heart rate, blood pressure, blood lipids, and performance tests (static and dynamic balance, strength, and submaximal fitness). Physical activity (PA) levels were assessed at preseason and at the mid-point of the caddying season. Across the caddying season, participants completed a monthly average of 24.0 (3.8) rounds. Results: Following the caddying season, improvements in static balance (Δ = 13.5 s), dynamic balance (Δ = −1.8 s), and lower back absolute strength (Δ = 112.8 N), and muscle quality (Δ = 2.0 N·kg−1) were observed (all P &lt; .05). Additionally, blood lipids, including total cholesterol (Δ = −0.6 mmol·L−1), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (Δ = 0.1 mmol·L−1), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (Δ = −0.6 mmol·L−1) (all P &lt; .05), and body composition, including body mass (Δ = −2.7 kg), fat mass (Δ = −1.9 kg), fat percentage (Δ = −1.4%), fat-to-muscle ratio (Δ = −0.03), and body mass index (Δ = −0.9 kg·m−2) (all P &lt; .05) improved. Caddying did not offer beneficial changes to cardiovascular variables or cardiorespiratory fitness (P &gt; .05), while coronary heart disease risk score decreased (Δ = −3.3%) (P &lt; .05). In relation to PA, light- (Δ = 145 min) and moderate-intensity (Δ = 71 min) PA, moderate to vigorous PA (Δ = 73 min), and total PA (Δ = 218 min) between preseason and the mid-point of the caddying season increased, while sedentary time (Δ = −172 min) decreased (all P &lt; .05). Conclusion: Golf caddying can provide several physical health benefits such as improvements in various markers of cardiometabolic health, lower back absolute strength, and static and dynamic balance. The physical health improvements that caddying offers is likely contributed to by increased PA volume and intensity through walking on the golf course. Therefore, caddying may represent a feasible model for increasing PA volume and intensity and achieve physical health–related benefits

Data for: Assessing the impacts of drought on groundwater resources in Scotland using the Eden catchment in northeast Fife as a case study.

These data were collected as part of a Masters By Research project. The data comprises calculations done with Excel to validate findings in Chapter 4 of the thesis. This included tabulated data for evapotranspiration, groundwater recharge estimates and standard precipitation index values to determine drought frequency. It also includes unused data such as return periods that was not needed in the final thesis

A down-to-earth visual representation of contemporary China:analysing the video game 'Chinese parents'

The award-winning indie video game Chinese Parents, developed by a mainland China-based studio, has gained significant popularity among both Chinese and Western players owing to its unique narrative and representation of contemporary mainland China. Some of these in-game representations include the strict parenting style, academic pressure on Chinese children, unique Chinese school culture and popular Chinese internet memes. This article applies compositional interpretation, as well as the framework of iconology in visual culture to analyse the representation of contemporary mainland China from a video-game-context graphic communication perspective. Examples of character portraits, background scene illustrations, biaoqingbao meme application and supporting visual elements are selected and analysed to demonstrate how the game incorporates contemporary Chinese culture into the visuals, while also challenging and playing into existing clichés of Chinese culture