Exploring the Complex Relationship between Posttraumatic Growth, Sport, and Athletes with Acquired Disabilities

Posttraumatic growth has received growing attention in the past decades, partly due to the rise of positive psychology. The idea of what does not kill us makes us stronger is age-old; however, only more recently has scientific research started to rigorously investigate this phenomenon. One such area of interest among sport scholars has been posttraumatic growth in athletes with acquired disabilities. Research has accelerated during the past decade, enriching understanding around the topic. However, several gaps in the literature remain; namely the role of the body and adaptive team sport in the process and outcomes of growth. Furthermore, as the field of posttraumatic growth research is expanding, so are the various definitions of trauma and adversity; which has made our explorations of growth trajectories more complex. To address these gaps, this thesis utilising exploratory sequential mixed methods design presents three sequential exploratory studies, which aim to illuminate the complex nature of posttraumatic growth in athletes with acquired physical disabilities. The thesis will explore this in the very specific socio-cultural context of adaptive team sport. Employing mixed methods enables novel and insightful understandings around how growth evolves within adaptive team sport athletes. The thesis culminates in three essential interconnected areas of findings that will complement existing frameworks of posttraumatic growth within the context of sport: the complexity of trauma, the essentiality of the body, and the growth facilitative potential of the adaptive team sport environment. The findings also highlight the severe challenges that adaptive team sport environments can have for not only growth processes and outcomes, but for athletes' physiological, social, and psychological wellbeing. The thesis offers suggestions for future research as well as practical implications stemming from the findings

‘Find a sport and carry on’: Posttraumatic growth and achievement in British Paralympic athletes

Background: The negative aftermath of acquired disability has been studied rigorously. The research on achievement and success after an acquired disability is still in its infancy, and more research is needed on the positive psychological outcomes that may arise as a result of surviving and dealing with trauma. Objective: This study aimed to provide an in-depth account of the experience of acquired disability, engagement in elite sport and Posttraumatic Growth in Paralympic athletes. Method: Three self-selected athletes (two females, one male) from Great Britain's 2012 Paralympic team were interviewed using semi-structured techniques. The interviews were recorded, and the data was transcribed. Data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results: The study identified that for these athletes, sport was a fundamental route to experiencing posttraumatic growth (PTG). Sport was perceived to be a platform of recovery, camaraderie, achievements and the basis for a new identity as an athlete. Furthermore, the team was seen as a resource, creating a safe environment in which to learn new skills, share practical ideas and promote a sense of equality. Additionally, the role of the body in facilitating PTG was central to these individuals’ experiences. Considerations of these findings as well as suggestions for future research are discussed

How does social support shape the relationship between career calling and PERMA?

Background: Career calling has received significant attention in the last decade, showing an association between calling and varied aspects of wellbeing. However, there is scarce work that has contextualized these concepts within the individual’s immediate environment. This paper explored the role of social support in the association between career calling and wellbeing. Methods: This cross-sectional study is a correlational study based on a survey data from a sample of 96 Turkish immigrant women currently living in the United Kingdom. Quantitative analyses were used, including hierarchical regression and mediation analysis to examine the associations between career calling, social support and wellbeing. Results: Results showed that both presence and search dimensions of career calling, and social support from a special person, family and friends had significant associations with PERMA (Positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, accomplishment). The path analysis showed some indirect effects in this relationship, such that support from family and friends predicted higher levels of wellbeing via the mediational role of search for a calling for this group of immigrant women. Discussions: These findings add notable insight to literature that explores the indirect ways of the relations between career calling, support and wellbeing. The present study showed that social support can shape the relation between career calling and wellbeing in such a way that the importance of social support for immigrant women become more apparent. Conclusions: The implications of the results underlined the importance of considering career calling and wellbeing within the wider social context of the individuals. Especially in a time when uncertainties and anxieties are on the rise, career calling can help people live a better life, and a contextual positive psychology perspective to career calling can further contribute to how different groups of people individually as well as collectively experience it

A Meaning in Life Intervention: Setting Personal Goals and Reviewing Life Story Increases Positive Affect

Reporting a high level of meaning in one’s life has been found to impact an individual’s wellbeing and mental health in a positive way. However, the majority of meaning-orientated interventions have been developed to help individuals cope with adversity, while limited interventions have focused on promoting, flourishing, and preventing mental illnesses in the general population. This research aimed to develop and test an online meaning in life intervention aimed at the general population. Based on a theoretical framework of meaning in life and empirically validated approaches, a convenience sample of Icelandic adults (N = 177) participated in a Randomised Control Trial (RCT) and were assigned to one of two interventions or an active control group. The hypothesis stated that a Motivational Meaning Intervention and Cognitive Motivational Meaning Intervention would result in greater perceptions of self-reported Meaning in Life, Subjective Wellbeing, Psychological Wellbeing and Positive Affect compared to a control condition. The results showed that both interventions enhanced positive affect while neither intervention increased meaning in life, subjective wellbeing nor psychological wellbeing. The interventions appear to be inexpensive, easily administered, and effective in increasing positive affect which is a major contributor to an individual’s wellbeing. The study offers meaningful conclusions and future avenues to enhance intervention studies to develop essential elements of wellbeing and human functioning within general populations

‘Food Was My Medicine, My Medicine to Recovery And Healing’ - A Phenomenological Study of Posttraumatic Growth through Positive Nutrition

The purpose of this study is to provide an in-depth account of the subjective experiences of adults who felt that positive nutrition played an essential role in their growth following their highly stressful life event(s), with a distinctive focus on exploring the embodied experience of posttraumatic growth within this group. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted amongst seven female participants and analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Three superordinate themes and nine subordinate themes emerged: (i) discovering the nutritional sanctuary through an embodied healing from foods, enjoying positive emotions and spiritual nourishment (ii) experiencing metamorphosis in the body through physical transformation, embodiment and discovering the ‘new body’, and finally (iii) through an eudaimonic journey manifesting in the form of deepened relationships, heightened personal growth and an acceptance of self. This study is the first of its kind to use positive nutrition to explore growth after trauma. The findings concluded that growth was seen to be processed through the body and posttraumatic growth attained via the embodied route of positive nutrition. Some elements of posttraumatic growth outcomes were found to be more prominent in participants who experienced a body related trauma, in comparison to those who underwent a non-body related trauma and vice versa

Kinetics of CO<inf>2</inf>-fluid-rock reactions in a basalt aquifer, Soda Springs, Idaho

The dissolution of silicate minerals by CO2–rich fluids and the subsequent precipitation of CO2 as carbonate minerals represent a means of permanently storing anthropogenic CO2 waste products in a solid and secure form. Modelling the progression of these reactions is hindered by our poor understanding of the rates of mineral dissolution-precipitation reactions and mineral surface properties in natural systems. This study evaluates the chemical evolution of groundwater flowing through a basalt aquifer, which forms part of the leaking CO2-charged system of the Blackfoot Volcanic Field in south-eastern Idaho, USA. Reaction progress is modelled using changes in groundwater chemistry by inverse mass balance techniques. The CO2-promoted fluid-mineral reactions include the dissolution of primary plagioclase, orthoclase, pyroxene and gypsum which is balanced by the precipitation of secondary albite, calcite, zeolite, kaolinite and silica. Mineral mole transfers and groundwater flow rates estimated from hydraulic head data are used to determine the kinetics of plagioclase and orthoclase feldspar dissolution. Plagioclase surface area measurements were determined using the evolution of the U-series isotope ratios in the groundwater and are compared to published surface area measurements. Calculated rates of dissolution for plagioclase range from 2.4 x 10-12 to 4.6 x 10-16 mol/m2/s and orthoclase from 2.0 x 10-13 to 6.8 x 10-16 mol/m2/s respectively. These feldspar reaction rates, correlate with the degree of mineral-fluid disequilibrium and are similar to the dissolution rates for these mineral measured in other natural CO2-charged groundwater systems.Carbon research at Cambridge is supported by Natural Environment Research Council grant NE/F004699/1, part of the UK CRIUS (Carbon Research Into Underground Storage) consortium and DECC through the ‘£20 million’ competition. Niko Kampman acknowledges financial support from Shell Global Solutions International.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2015.06.01

Can vitamin D3 supplementation prevent bone loss in persons with MS? A placebo-controlled trial

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a possible cause of secondary osteoporosis. In this phase II trial we assessed whether a weekly dose of 20,000 IU vitamin D3 prevents bone loss in ambulatory persons with MS age 18–50 years. ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT00785473. All patients managed at the University Hospital of North Norway who fulfilled the main inclusion criteria were invited to participate in this double-blinded trial. Participants were randomised to receive 20,000 IU vitamin D3 or placebo once a week and 500 mg calcium daily for 96 weeks. The primary outcome was the effect of the intervention on percentage change in bone mineral density (BMD) at the hip, the spine, and the ultradistal radius over the study period. Of 71 participants randomised, 68 completed. Mean serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels in the intervention group increased from 55 nmol/L at baseline to 123 nmol/L at week 96. After 96 weeks, percentage change in BMD did not differ between groups at any site. BMD decreased at the hip, by 1.4% in the placebo group (95% CI −2.3 to −0.4, SD 2.7, p = 0.006) and by 0.7% in the treatment group (−1.6 to 0.2, 2.7, p = 0.118), difference 0.7% (−1.9 to 0.7, p = 0.332). Findings were not altered by adjustment for sex or serum 25(OH)D. Supplementation with 20,000 IU vitamin D3 a week did not prevent bone loss in this small population. Larger studies are warranted to assess the effect of vitamin D on bone health in persons with MS

Determinants of frequent and infrequent STI testing and STI diagnosis related to test frequency among men who have sex with men in the eastern part of the Netherlands: a 6-year retrospective study.

Men who have sex with men (MSM) remain vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and are advised to be tested at least twice a year. The aim of this study was to assess the determinants of test frequency and their associations with an STI diagnosis

Archaeological Geophysical Prospection in Peatland Environments: case studies and suggestions for future practice

Peatland environments, in contrast to ‘dry-land’ sites, preserve organic material, including anthropogenic objects, because they are anaerobic, and are therefore of great importance to archaeology. Peat also preserves macro- and micro- paleoenvironmental evidence and is the primary resource for understanding past climates and ecology. Archaeological sites often lie within or at the base of wet, deep, homogenous peat rendering them invisible to surface observers. As a result, they most often c..

Making implementation programmes better : mixed methods case study of an implementation process for two evidence-based brief psychotherapies

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