The COVID-19 pandemic and Olympic/Paralympic athletes’ developmental challenges and possibilities in times of a global crisis-transition

Our aim in this invited commentary is to stimulate discussion among sport psychology researchers and practitioners regarding the unique developmental challenges and possibilities that Olympic and Paralympic athletes are undergoing during their final – extended year of the Tokyo 2020 quadrenium. We begin the commentary with COVID-19 pandemic (C-19) context setting, proceed with discussing transitional and holistic perspectives on athletes’ Olympic/Paralympic journey, outline three potential pathway scenarios and “C-19 as a possibility-provider” coping (meta-) scenario for Olympic/Paralympic athletes, and finalise our commentary with a summary of messages intended to invite further discussion and collaboration

New Zealand athletes' attitudes towards seeking sport psychology consultation

The aim of this study was to use the Sport Psychology Attitudes-Revised (SPA-R) questionnaire (Martin, Kellman, Lavallee & Page, 2002) to develop an understanding of the attitudes elite New Zealand athletes (N = 112) hold towards sport psychology so that services can be tailored to accommodate these views. The influence of athlete characteristics such as nationality, gender, age, level of competition achieved, and previous use of sport psychology on attitudes was explored. Further, the SPA-R was used as a measure of attitudes within the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA; Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) and Theory Planned Behaviour (TPB; Ajzen, 1985, 1991), and integrated with measures of subjective norm and perceived behavioural control to investigate the influence of these variables on predicting athletes' intention to use sport psychology. Results suggested that New Zealand athletes generally held positive attitudes regarding sport psychology, with gender and previous experience of sport psychology significantly influencing attitudes. Regression analyses indicated that the TPB was a better model than the TRA for predicting intention, and the variables predicted 39.7% of variance in intention to use sport psychology. The only SPA-R subscale that contributed significantly was confidence in sport psychology, and perceived behavioural control and subjective norm also contributed significantly. These findings suggest the SPA-R may have limited value in predicting intentions, although the TPB could provide a useful theoretical framework to direct interventions aimed at increasing athletes' intention to use sport psychology

A psycho-educational curriculum for sport career transition practitioners: Development and evaluation

Research question: This paper is an integration of three studies. Study 1 investigates sport career transition organisational intervention programmes for high performance athletes and training and development programmes for sport career transition practitioners in order to find a research gap with regard to sport career transition supporting services. A psycho-educational curriculum was developed for sport career transition practitioner in Study 2 to fill the research gap. In Study 3, the curriculum was examined to see if the curriculum contributed to enhancing practitioners’ confidence in key competences.  Research methods: A range of methods were applied to the studies including One Group Pre- and Post-test design, Case Study, Focus Group, Semi-Structured Interview, two-round Delphi-Method and Questionnaires. The data for Study 1 collected from 19 countries worldwide and total 16 participants based in seven different countries were invited to development and evaluation of the curriculum.  Results and Findings: A novel psycho-educational curriculum for sport career transition practitioner was developed and evaluated concerning four competences as a form of curriculum package. The findings revealed that the curriculum package increased the participants’ confidence in key competences concerning sport career transition.  Implications: The findings deepen the knowledge of sport career transition in the areas of organisational intervention programmes focusing on high performance athletes and sport career transition practitioners. These findings contribute to modifying the Conceptual Model of Adaptation to Career Transition (Lavallee, Park, & Taylor, 2014) by strengthening the organisational intervention perspective and applied work in respect of sporting organisation management strategie

Best Practices for the Prevention and Management of Diabetes and Obesity-Related Chronic Disease among Indigenous Peoples in Canada: A Review

AbstractObjectivesTo carry out a systematic review of interventions that have aimed at improving screening, treatment, prevention and management of type 2 diabetes and obesity-related chronic disease in Indigenous communities in Canada from 2008 to 2014, with the aim of identifying current best practices.MethodsA comprehensive literature review was carried out through an electronic database search using Medline, EMBASE, PubMED and Google scholar.ResultsWe identified 17 publications, comprising 13 evaluated interventions. Of them, 7 were school-based programs focused on children, 5 focused on adults, and 1 included both adults and children. Most interventions aimed at encouraging behaviour change, especially dietary change, but did little to address the underlying context of systemic marginalization and colonialism experienced in many Indigenous communities. Interventions focused on improving fitness were more effective than those aimed at dietary change. Overall, we found a range of successes among these interventions. Those that met with limited success reported that complex social issues and poverty presented challenges to effective intervention work in these communities. Participatory action research methods and community ownership of the intervention were found to be essential for project success.ConclusionsDiabetes-focused intervention research in Indigenous communities appears to be a low priority for Canadian funders and policymakers. More intervention research is urgently needed in these communities. To be effective, this work must take an approach that is historically deep and sufficiently broad as to enable the ideologic, policy and institutional changes necessary in order to achieve true equity. This will involve addressing colonialism, racism and social exclusion as broader determinants of health

A learning health systems approach to integrating electronic patient-reported outcomes across the health care organization

Introduction: Foundational to a learning health system (LHS) is the presence of a data infrastructure that can support continuous learning and improve patient outcomes. To advance their capacity to drive patient-centered care, health systems are increasingly looking to expand the electronic capture of patient data, such as electronic patient-reported outcome (ePRO) measures. Yet ePROs bring unique considerations around workflow, measurement, and technology that health systems may not be poised to navigate. We report on our effort to develop generalizable learnings that can support the integration of ePROs into clinical practice within an LHS framework. Methods: Guided by action research methodology, we engaged in iterative cycles of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting around ePRO use with two primary goals: (1) mobilize an ePRO community of practice to facilitate knowledge sharing, and (2) establish guidelines for ePRO use in the context of LHS practice. Multiple, emergent data collection activities generated generalizable guidelines that document the tangible best practices for ePRO use in clinical care. We organized guidelines around thematic areas that reflect LHS structures and stakeholders. Results: Three core thematic areas (and 24 guidelines) emerged. The theme of governance reflects the importance of leadership, knowledge management, and facilitating organizational learning around best practice models for ePRO use. The theme of integration considers the intersection of workflow, technology, and human factors for ePROs across areas of care delivery. Lastly, the theme of reporting reflects critical considerations for curating data and information, designing system functions and interactions, and presentation of ePRO data to support the translation of knowledge to action. Conclusions: The guidelines produced from this work highlight the complex, multidisciplinary nature of implementing change within LHS contexts, and the value of action research approaches to enable rapid, iterative learning that leverages the knowledge and experience of communities of practice

From Youth Team to First Team: An Investigation into the Transition Experiences of Young Professional Athletes in Football

Using Wylleman and Lavallee (2004) and Stambulova (2003) models of transition as conceptual frameworks for the current study, we aimed to explore United Kingdom (UK) professional soccer players’ (N = 5) experiences going through a youth-to-senior career transition to first team level, and assess the immediate changes that occur during the move. Few studies have assessed this process, and no studies have focused on assessing the changes that may occur between pre and post transition. Data collection lasted 1 month with players interviewed twice, 2 weeks before, and 2 weeks after their transition to the first team. Data were abductively thematically content analyzed. Prior to transition, players reported high motivation to be successful, but also feeling anxious about the transition to senior sport. Post-transition, players felt more confident about their ability to succeed in senior sport and maintained high levels of motivation to succeed. Family, friends, coaches, and teammates provided emotional, technical, and tangible support to the players throughout the transition, but were also sources of stress for athletes moving to senior sport. These findings suggest ways to assist transitioning athletes, such as the use of buddy systems with senior players

Frictional melt homogenisation during fault slip: Geochemical, textural and rheological fingerprints

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe