Physical Qualities and Match Demands of Female Australian Football

Australian football (AF) is arguably the most popular sport in Australia, with over one million people participating in domestic AF annually. As participation rates have continued to rise, it is the growth of female AF that has drawn further attention to the sport in the last two years. Despite the introduction of the national women’s Australian football competition (AFLW) in 2017 and the 400,000 females who participate in recreational AF Australia-wide, there is currently no research to inform training practices. Although the physical match demands of elite male AF have been well established, the differences in physical qualities between male and female athletes emphasises the need to explore the demands of the female game. Athletes from intermittent team sports are required to train multiple physical qualities in order to improve on-field performances. While certain physical qualities have shown to influence activity profiles in a number of sports, little is understood about how these qualities affect running performance in female AF players. Determining physical tests that are able to (1) discriminate between selected and non-selected players and (2) influence running performance are important for future athletic development. In addition, a number of contextual factors may also influence running performances in games, such as match outcome, opposition ranking and positional differences. Despite previous research focusing on male AF, it is now necessary to explore female AF player responses to potentially key influences on performance. The overall aim of this thesis was to establish the physical quality profile of female AF and explore factors influencing match activities. The thesis contains 5 individual, but linked studies that investigated the aforementioned aims targeting female AF. Study 1 examined the influence of physical qualities on team selection as well as the relationship between physical qualities and match running performances. Results showed selected players were faster over 30 m and covered greater high-intensity intermittent fitness (Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Level 1, Yo-Yo IR1) distances than unselected players. Furthermore, these physical qualities were associated with greater distances covered at high-speed during match-play in selected compared with unselected players. Study 2 determined whether better performances on the high-intensity intermittent running test, were associated with greater distances covered during peak, as well as subsequent and mean periods of running during matches. The results suggested the development of aerobic fitness and high-intensity running ability in female AF players is important to enable greater peak period performances and to improve players’ abilities to maintain a greater average running match intensity. Study 3 investigated the influence of high-intensity running ability and player rotations (interchanges) on match running performance. Higher Yo-Yo performers covered greater distances during their rotation bouts than the lower Yo-Yo group. In addition, short (4-6 minutes) and moderate (6-12 minutes) on-field bouts resulted in greater relative total and high-speed distances compared with longer (12-18 minutes) on-field bouts and whole-quarter efforts (> 18 minutes). Collectively, these findings highlight the development of high-intensity intermittent running ability and the use of short-to-moderate length rotation bouts to promote greater running performances during female AF match-play. Match activity profiles were further explored in Study 4, which investigated the influence of match quarter, game outcome, and opposition ranking on running demands. The findings demonstrated that match running performances declined during the second half of female AF, irrespective of playing position. Defensive players were required to work at greater match intensities during losses and against higher quality opposition. These data indicate that rotations could be utilised more frequently both early in the match and during the second half to minimise the effects of fatigue and increase running intensity. Finally, Study 5 investigated the skills important for success in the AFLW competition. Despite the early stages of “elite” female competition, the results revealed that skill performance remains central to success. Furthermore, results show the ratio between inside 50 entries and goals scored and uncontested possessions are the greatest predictors of match success in female football. Collectively, this program of research highlighted the importance of physical qualities to success in Women’s AF and provided initial benchmark intensities that can be used to develop training programs that prepare these athletes for the physical demands of the game. For the first time, these results showed that high-intensity running ability appeared to have the capacity to increase or sustain the intensity of match activity in females. Nonetheless, other factors, such as skill efficiency, uncontested possessions, contested marks and effective ‘inside 50’ entries also influenced overall performance. Results from this thesis can be used to inform existing coaching practices and more rigorously support the next wave of research that should focus on the longevity of women in football codes

Press Release: Annual March on the Moore\u27s Ford Bridge

Schedule of Events organized by GABEO (Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials) to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 2008

Using a meta-ethnographic approach to explore the role of interprofessional education in Inclusion Health for health and care staff

PURPOSE: This article aims to present a systematic review and synthesis of evidence on the experiences, role and use of IPE in IH fields by using a meta-ethnographic approach including key concepts, reciprocal and refutational translation and lines of argument. Inclusion health (IH) practice suggests that the needs of excluded groups are more effectively addressed through collaborative working. Interprofessional education (IPE) occurs when two or more professions engage in shared practice and learning, resulting in improved collaboration and quality of care. Studies on IPE to train staff in fields relating to IH exist, but without a settled consensus on the best approaches/activities to foster inclusive practice. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: This synthesis is underpinned by a meta-ethnographic approach. It provides explicit stages of data collection and interpretation, while providing space to engage with emerging themes and concepts iteratively (reflecting on author experiences) and inductively (reasoning and interpretation). This study made use of electronic databases and journals for English language peer reviewed articles between 2000 and 2020. Of the 2217 articles, 19 papers were included. The lead author and reviewer completed the review process and a second reviewer reviewed 10% at each stage. The quality was assessed using a modified CASP checklist. Iterative analysis involved PPI and staff stakeholders. FINDINGS: A total of 16 concepts embedded in 19 papers provide insight into the nature of IPE in IH (IH) for staff. It was found that IPE in IH covers a broad group of practitioners and is a complex activity involving individual and organisation readiness, practical and pedagogical factors, influenced by setting, method, curriculum, lived experience, reflection and a learner-driven approach. Barriers to design, implementation and translation into practice were also found to exist. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Most studies used a combination of core learning and group work. Educational modes include mentoring or coaching, reflective practice, immersive learning and people lived experience of exclusion involved in or facilitation thematically centred in trauma-informed informed care, cultural competence, communities of practice and service learning. The aim of these methods was to promote collaboration through identifying shared experiences, problems and tensions and critical reflection of services and organisations. Such transformative learning is reported to challenge stigma, discrimination and misinformation and promote collective empowerment to address social injustice through human connection. Effective models of IPE re-instated the therapeutic relationship and alliances between patients and staff. SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS: This review also calls for the development of health and care workers’ professionalism in relation to their own reflexivity, establishing anti-racist curricula, challenge stigma and ensuring clinicians are aware of and able to negotiate tension and difference identified within the consultation and between themselves. Apart from developing generalist skills, this analysis suggests that IPE in IH may be able to challenge stigma and discrimination towards IH groups by destabilising existing norms and siloed working with the aim of achieving robust interprofessional practice. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: IPE in IH is a complex activity affected by individual and organisation readiness, setting, experiential, practical and pedagogical factors. Models of teaching are focused on re-instating the therapeutic relationship. There are no systematic reviews in this field and previously there was no settled consensus on the best approaches and learning activities to foster inclusive and collaborative practice

Experience of depression in older adults with and without a physical long-term condition: findings from a qualitative interview study

OBJECTIVE: To understand how the lived experience of depression differs among patients with a long-term condition (LTC) compared with those without an LTC, and how the experience differs across different types of LTC. DESIGN: Face-to-face, semistructured interviews. SETTING: Primary care; General Practitioner (GP) surgeries in and around North London. PARTICIPANTS: 41 primary care patients with depression were recruited. Our sample comprised participants aged 55–75 years with depression only (n=12), depression and coronary heart disease (n=5), depression and type 2 diabetes (n=10) and depression and arthritis (n=14). RESULTS: Interviews were conducted, audio recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. The results revealed that the cardinal diagnostic symptoms of depression (anhedonia, sadness) were experienced by all our participants regardless of LTC. However, the LTC did interact with depression by compounding somatic, cognitive and emotional symptoms, increasing disability and reducing independence, and hindering attempts at coping with mental illness. Our findings demonstrate common experiences across patients as well as key differences based on LTC. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest four key implications for future care practices of these patients: (1) not all participants with depression and LTC view their mental and physical health as interconnected; there should be allowances in care plans for separate treatment pathways; (2) key features of depression that affect LTC management are social withdrawal and lack of motivation to self-manage or access healthcare; (3) key features of LTCs that worsen depression are pain, the unpredictability of future health and progressive disability; (4) positive self-management of LTC could improve self-efficacy and therefore mood, and should be encouraged

Persuasion, Adaptation, and Double Identity: Qualitative Study on the Psychological Impact of a Screen-Detected Colorectal Cancer Diagnosis

The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme (BCSP) is aimed at reducing colorectal cancer (CRC) mortality through early detection within a healthy population. This study explores how 5 people (three females) experience and make sense of their screen-detected diagnosis and the psychological implications of this diagnostic pathway. A biographical narrative interview method was used, and transcripts were analysed using a thematic analysis with a phenomenological lens. Themes specifically relating to posttreatment experience and reflections are reported here: Do it: being living proof, Resisting the threat of recurrence, Rationalising bodily change, and Continuing life—“carrying on normally.” Participants described their gratefulness to the BCSP, motivating a strong desire to persuade others to be screened. Furthermore, participants professed a duality of experience categorised by the normalisation of life after diagnosis and treatment and an identification of strength post cancer, as well as a difficulty adjusting to the new changes in life and a contrasting identity of frailty. Understanding both the long- and short-term impacts of a CRC diagnosis through screening is instrumental to the optimisation of support for patients. The results perhaps highlight a particular target for psychological distress reduction, which could reduce the direct and indirect cost of cancer to the patient

Harnessing the electronic health care record to optimise patient safety in primary care: a framework for evaluating “electronic safety netting” tools

The management of diagnostic uncertainty is part of every primary care physician’s role. e–Safety-netting tools help health care professionals to manage diagnostic uncertainty. Using software in addition to verbal or paper based safety-netting methods could make diagnostic delays and errors less likely. There are an increasing number of software products that have been identified as e–safety-netting tools, particularly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. e–Safety-netting tools can have a variety of functions, such as sending clinician alerts, facilitating administrative tasking, providing decision support, and sending reminder text messages to patients. However, these tools have not been evaluated by using robust research designs for patient safety interventions. We present an emergent framework of criteria for effective e–safety-netting tools that can be used to support the development of software. The framework is based on validated frameworks for electronic health record development and patient safety. There are currently no tools available that meet all of the criteria in the framework. We hope that the framework will stimulate clinical and public conversations about e–safety-netting tools. In the future, a validated framework would drive audits and improvements. We outline key areas for future research both in primary care and within integrated care systems

The influence of contextual factors on running performance in female Australian football match-play

The influence of contextual factors on running performance in female Australian football match-play. J Strength Cond Res 33(9): 2488–2495, 2019—Given the recent growth of the professional status among multiple female football codes, the aim of this study is to investigate the effects of contextual factors on activity profiles and pacing strategies in female Australian football (AF) players. Thirty-five female AF players participated in this study. Global positioning system analysis was completed over 1 competitive season. Matches were separated into eight 10-minute periods. Greater distances were covered during the first half irrespective of playing position (effect size [ES] = 0.39–0.50, Likelihood ≥90%). Throughout a number of periods half-backs (defensive players) covered greater distances during losses (ES ≥ 0.74, Likelihood ≥92%) and against top 3 opponents (ES ≥ 1.0, Likelihood ≥97%). Midfielders and half-backs covered greater distances (ES ≥ 0.49, Likelihood ≥89%) in the final match period in winning compared with losing matches. A reduction in player work rate is evident during the second half of matches. The influence of contextual factors varied across positional groups. However, it is clear that coaches could use player rotation both early in the match in an attempt to delay the effect of fatigue and more frequently during the second half to increase running intensity

Automatic detection of pitching and throwing events in baseball with inertial measurement sensors

Purpose: Throwing loads are known to be closely related to injury risk. However, for logistic reasons, typically only pitchers have their throws counted, and then only during innings. Accordingly, all other throws made are not counted, so estimates of throws made by players may be inaccurately recorded and underreported. A potential solution to this is the use of wearable microtechnology to automatically detect, quantify, and report pitch counts in baseball. This study investigated the accuracy of detection of baseball pitching and throwing in both practice and competition using a commercially available wearable microtechnology unit. Methods: Seventeen elite youth baseball players (mean ± SD age 16.5 ± 0.8 y, height 184.1 ± 5.5 cm, mass 78.3 ± 7.7 kg) participated in this study. Participants performed pitching, fielding, and throwing during practice and competition while wearing a microtechnology unit. Sensitivity and specificity of a pitching and throwing algorithm were determined by comparing automatic measures (ie, microtechnology unit) with direct measures (ie, manually recorded pitching counts). Results: The pitching and throwing algorithm was sensitive during both practice (100%) and competition (100%). Specificity was poorer during both practice (79.8%) and competition (74.4%). Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that the microtechnology unit is sensitive to detect pitching and throwing events, but further development of the pitching algorithm is required to accurately and consistently quantify throwing loads using microtechnology. © 2017 Human Kinetics, Inc

Early diagnosis of cancer: systems approach to support clinicians in primary care

Georgia Black and colleagues argue that rather than focusing on the initial consultation efforts to reduce diagnosis times should look at the wider system