Social support for and through exercise and sport in a sample of men with serious mental illness.

Social support is important for people experiencing serious mental illness and is also important during the initiation and maintenance of exercise. In this article we draw on interpretive research into the experiences of 11 men with serious mental illness to explore four dimensions of social support both for and through exercise. Our findings suggest that informational, tangible, esteem, and emotional support were both provided for and given by participants through exercise. We conclude that experiences of both receiving and giving diverse forms of support in this way are significant for some people living with and recovering from serious mental illness

Narrative, identity, and recovery from serious mental illness: A life history of a runner

In recent years, researchers have investigated the psychological effects of exercise for people with mental health problems, often by focusing on how exercise may alleviate symptoms of mental illness. In this article I take a different tack to explore the ways in which exercise contributed a sense of meaning, purpose, and identity to the life of one individual named Ben, a runner diagnosed with schizophrenia. Drawing on life history data, I conducted an analysis of narrative to explore the narrative types that underlie Ben's stories of mental illness and exercise. For Ben, serious mental illness profoundly disrupted a pre-existing athletic identity removing agency, continuity, and coherence from his life story. By returning to exercise several years later, Ben reclaimed his athletic identity and reinstated some degree of narrative agency, continuity, and coherence. While the relationships between narrative, identity, and mental health are undoubtedly complex, Ben's story suggests that exercise can contribute to recovery by being a personally meaningful activity which reinforces identity and sense of self

Sharing a different voice: Attending to stories in collaborative writing

Through three stories, we hope to reveal how sometimes contradictory or unrecognizable aspects of our lives, selves, and stories can create tensions in the collaborative writing endeavor. We begin with a story that illuminates some of the narrative tensions that surface during a decade of writing collaboratively. In an effort to navigate these tensions, we explore two further stories in dialogue as a way to reveal how dominant narratives shape our lives and the stories we might tell. One aim of sharing these stories is to reveal how problematic ways of being are often inseparable from one’s cultural legacy. Making previously obscured narratives visible paves the way for imaginary leaps that are necessary for change. We hope these insights are useful for other writers and collaborators and those who seek caring, responsive, and nurturing writing relationships yet realize this journey can be problematic

Psychosocial outcomes of an inclusive adapted sport and adventurous training course for military personnel.

PURPOSE: To explore the psychosocial outcomes of an inclusive adapted sport and adventurous training course that aims to support the rehabilitation and personal development of military personnel who have sustained physical and/or psychological disability. METHOD: Narrative life story interviews were conducted with 11 men aged 20-43 taking part in one of the 5-day courses. A thematic narrative analysis was conducted, focusing on accounts that provided insights into personally meaningful psychosocial outcomes of the course. FINDINGS: We identified six themes, falling into two distinct clusters. "Bringing me back to myself" was achieved through the themes of (1) returning to activity, (2) rediscovering a sense of purpose, and (3) reconnecting to others. "New rooms to explore" was realised through (4) experiencing new activities, (5) being valued/respected/cared for and (6) being inspired by other people. CONCLUSION: Involvement in the course stimulated a balance of present- and future-oriented psychosocial outcomes through which participants both recreated aspects of themselves that had been lost through injury/trauma and moved forward with their lives as a result of new horizons of possibility. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION: This 5-day inclusive adapted sport and adventurous training course offered meaningful psychosocial outcomes among military personnel who had experienced physical and/or psychological disability. The course helped participants recover aspects of their previous life and self through becoming physically active again, rediscovering a sense of purpose and reconnecting to others. Participants describe a broadening of life horizons as a result of the course, through new activities, being valued/respected/cared for, and being inspired by other people

Whole Genome Sequence Data From Captive Baboons Implicate RBFOX1 in Epileptic Seizure Risk

In this study, we investigate the genetic determinants that underlie epilepsy in a captive baboon pedigree and evaluate the potential suitability of this non-human primate model for understanding the genetic etiology of human epilepsy. Archived whole-genome sequence data were analyzed using both a candidate gene approach that targeted variants in baboon homologs of 19 genes (n = 20,881 SNPs) previously implicated in genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE) and a more agnostic approach that examined protein-altering mutations genome-wide as assessed by snpEff (n = 36,169). Measured genotype association tests for baboon cases of epileptic seizure were performed using SOLAR, as well as gene set enrichment analyses (GSEA) and protein–protein interaction (PPI) network construction of top association hits genome-wide (p \u3c 0.01; n = 441 genes). The maximum likelihood estimate of heritability for epileptic seizure in the pedigreed baboon sample is 0.76 (SE = 0.77; p = 0.07). Among candidate genes for GGE, a significant association was detected for an intronic SNP in RBFOX1 (p = 5.92 × 10–6; adjusted p = 0.016). For protein-altering variants, no genome-wide significant results were observed for epilepsy status. However, GSEA revealed significant positive enrichment for genes involved in the extracellular matrix structure (ECM; FDR = 0.0072) and collagen formation (FDR = 0.017), which was reflected in a major PPI network cluster. This preliminary study highlights the potential role of RBFOX1 in the epileptic baboon, a protein involved in transcriptomic regulation of multiple epilepsy candidate genes in humans and itself previously implicated in human epilepsy, both focal and generalized. Moreover, protein-damaging variants from across the genome exhibit a pattern of association that links collagen-containing ECM to epilepsy risk. These findings suggest a shared genetic etiology between baboon and human forms of GGE and lay the foundation for follow-up research

Negotiating sexuality and masculinity in school sport: An autoethnography

This autoethnography explores challenging and ethically sensitive issues around sexual orientation, sexual identity and masculinity in the context of school sport. Through storytelling, I aim to show how sometimes ambiguous encounters with heterosexism, homophobia and hegemonic masculinity through sport problematise identity development for young same-sex attracted males. By foregrounding personal embodied experience, I respond to an absence of stories of gay and bisexual experiences among males in physical education and school sport, in an effort to reduce a continuing sense of Otherness and difference regarding same-sex attracted males. I rely on the story itself to express the embodied forms of knowing that inhabit the experiences I describe, and resist a finalising interpretation of the story. Instead, I offer personal reflections on particular theoretical and methodological issues which relate to both the form and content of the story

We haven't got a seat on the bus for you or All the seats are mine: Narratives and career transitions in professional golf

In this article we explore how the stories an athlete tells throughout life in sport affect her career transition experiences. We base our enquiry on a social constructionist conception of narrative theory which holds that storytelling is integral to the creation and maintenance of identity and sense of self. Life stories were gathered through interviews with two professional women golfers (Christiana and Kandy) over a six‐year period. Through a narrative analysis of structure and form we explored each participant’s stories of living in and withdrawing from professional golf. We suggest Christiana told monological performance‐oriented stories which, while aligning with the culture of elite sport, resulted in an exclusive athletic identity and foreclosure of alternative selves and roles. On withdrawal, Christiana experienced narrative wreckage, identity collapse, mental health difficulties and considerable psychological trauma. In contrast, Kandy told dialogical discovery‐oriented stories which, while being in tension with the dominant performance narrative, created and sustained a multidimensional identity and self. Her stories and identity remained intact, authentic and continuous on withdrawal from tournament golf and she experienced few psychological problems

Stories of success: Cultural narratives and personal stories of elite and professional athletes

Using a narrative methodology to explore the stories Olympic and elite athletes tell about success, we identified three alternatives to the dominant conception of success as the achievement of performance outcomes. In these alternatives, success is storied as: (1) ‘I did the best that I could’ – a controllable and sustainable story of effort and application; (2) ‘It’s the closest thing you can get to flying’ – a story where success relates to embodied experience and discovery; (3) ‘People I made the journey with’ – which prioritises relationships and connection between people. We reflect on three key insights: (1) success is a multidimensional concept, broader than the singular conception encapsulated within the dominant performance narrative; (2) through various narrative strategies, experienced athletes resist cultural pressures towards a singular conception of success; (3) for long-term performance and well-being, it is necessary to work towards multiple forms of success over time and across contexts

Whole genome sequence data implicate RBFOX1 in epilepsy risk in baboons

Background: Baboons exhibit a genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE) that resembles juvenile myoclonic epilepsy and may represent a suitable genetic model for human epilepsy. The genetic underpinnings of epilepsy were investigated in a baboon colony at the Southwest National Primate Research Center (San Antonio, TX) through the analysis of whole-genome sequence (WGS) data. Methods: Baboon WGS data were obtained for 38 cases and 19 healthy controls from the NCBI Sequence Read Archive and, after standard QC filtering, two subsets of variants were examined: (1) 20,881 SNPs from baboon homologs of 19 candidate GGE genes; and (2) 36,169 protein-altering SNPs. Association tests were conducted in SOLAR, and gene set enrichment analyses (GSEA) and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network construction were performed on genome-wide significant association results (Pn= 441 genes). Results: Heritability for epileptic seizure in the pedigreed baboon sample was estimated at 0.76 (SE=0.77; P=0.07). A significant association was detected for an intronic SNP in RBFOX1 (P=5.92 × 10-6; adjusted P=0.016). For protein-altering variants, GSEA revealed significant positive enrichment for genes involved in the extracellular matrix structure (ECM; FDR=0.0072) and collagen formation (FDR=0.017). Conclusions: SNP association results implicate RBFOX1 in baboon epilepsy, a gene that plays a key role in neuronal excitation and transcriptomic regulation, and has been previously linked to human epilepsy, both focal and generalized. Moreover, protein-damaging variants from across the baboon genome exhibit a wider pattern of association that links collagen-containing ECM to epilepsy risk. These findings suggest a shared genetic etiology between baboon and human forms of GGE