77 research outputs found
âHeâs asked for you. . . . â one-to-one support with an elite academy soccer player and navigating through the unforeseen roles of sport psychology practitioners
This case study outlines the holistic development of an adolescent soccer player, placing focus on the welfare of the individual first and the performer second. The client was seeking support as family life disturbances were having a negative impact on his mental health and general well-being. In addition, scholarship decisions were imminent, and the client felt that his performance had deteriorated. An introduction to the practitioner and client is provided, along with an account of the challenging and anxiety-provoking process encountered. Practitioner reflections are embedded throughout, and recommendations for other trainee sport psychology practitioners are provided. This case highlights the potentially unforeseen roles that sport psychology practitioners may, at times, play to best support their clients. It demonstrates the benefit of seeking guidance and support from supervisors and collaborating with other members of a multidisciplinary team, as well as the importance of having a clearly defined philosophy of practice to ensure that one is working from a place of congruence
A penny for your thoughts:athletesâ and trainee sport psychologistsâ internal dialogue during consultations
The purpose of this study was to explore the internal dialogue of trainee sport psychologists (TSPs) and athletes immediately following athleteâpractitioner consultations. TSPs (four male and three female, age 22â32 years) and athletes (four male, three female, age 19â29 years) completed a thought-listing procedure twice, while watching video recordings of their previous consultations. The thought-listing procedure involved participantsâ pausing the video to record the in-session internal dialogue they had experienced during the consultation. Participantsâ responses were categorized into six dimensions: time, place, focus, locus, orientation, and mode. TSPsâ and athletesâ retrospective accounts provided evidence that their in-session internal dialogue was (a) present focused, (b) about in-session material, (c) about the athletes or themselves, (d) about internal and external events, (e) professional (i.e., related to the session), and (f) neutral. Findings provide trainees and inexperienced practitioners with insights into the thought content of TSPs and athletes to guide their own athlete interactions
Stories of Critical Moments Contributing to the Development of Applied Sport Psychology Practitioners
Accepted author manuscript version reprinted, by permission, from The Sport Psychologist, 2020 (ahead of print). © Human Kinetics, Inc.This study explored the stories of critical moments experienced by applied sport psychology practitioners. The 13 recruited practitioners (eight male and five female) were in different stages of their development (trainee, neophyte, and experienced) and were asked to tell one story about a critical moment that significantly contributed to their development as applied practitioners. Narrative analysis was used to explore the stories of critical moments. Four distinct narrative structures were evident; Re-birth, Rags to Riches, Tragedy, and The Quest. There was one consistent narrative feature that supported these plots: critical moments contribute towards an alignment between a practitionerâs beliefs and behaviour, which supports the development of a congruent philosophy of practice and the environment they choose to work within. We recommend future research, such as the use of narrative analysis to explore alternative narrative structures and the investigation of successful and unsuccessful consultancy experiences
A qualitative analysis of Swedish sport psychology practitionersâ experience of a continued professional development program
Although sport psychology practitioners and researchers acknowledge the importance of continued professional development (CPD) for professional effectiveness and excellence, few studies have explored the influence of CPD activities on the practitioners' practice and thinking. This study examined qualified Swedish sport psychology practitioners' experiences of engaging in a CPD program and how it impacted their professional development. The Swedish Sports Confederation offers a CPD program that targets performance enhancement services and psychotherapy for sport psychology practitioners. We explored the influence of this CPD program on the professional development of 13 graduates (five females; age in years: Mâ=â41.2, SDâ=â8.3) via semi-structured interviews. Our stance involved a realist ontology and constructionist epistemology. We followed the six-step Reflexive Thematic Analysis procedures to analyze data. We identified four themes of CPD: (1) Critique (participants decided to do the CPD program because of perceived gaps in their knowledge and skills), (2) Change (participants discussed several changes as a result of the CPD program), (3) Context (participants discussed the aspects of the CPD program that promoted change), and (4) Challenge (participants mentioned issues related to having completed the program). The study provides insights into the value of CPD activities for sport psychology practitioners, advances current knowledge on practitioner maturation, and illustrates how CPD fits within a practitioner's lifelong learning. Future research could investigate the professional development of mid-career sport psychology practitioners engaging in other CPD programs to confirm or extend this work
A model to predict disease progression in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD): the ADPKD Outcomes Model.
Background: Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is the leading inheritable cause of end-stage
renal disease (ESRD); however, the natural course of disease progression is heterogeneous between patients. This study
aimed to develop a natural history model of ADPKD that predicted progression rates and long-term outcomes in patients
with differing baseline characteristics.
Methods: The ADPKD Outcomes Model (ADPKD-OM) was developed using available patient-level data from the placebo
arm of the Tolvaptan Efficacy and Safety in Management of ADPKD and its Outcomes Study (TEMPO 3:4; ClinicalTrials.gov
identifier NCT00428948). Multivariable regression equations estimating annual rates of ADPKD progression, in terms of
total kidney volume (TKV) and estimated glomerular filtration rate, formed the basis of the lifetime patient-level simulation
model. Outputs of the ADPKD-OM were compared against external data sources to validate model accuracy and
generalisability to other ADPKD patient populations, then used to predict long-term outcomes in a cohort matched to
the overall TEMPO 3:4 study population.
Results: A cohort with baseline patient characteristics consistent with TEMPO 3:4 was predicted to reach ESRD at a mean
age of 52 years. Most patients (85%) were predicted to reach ESRD by the age of 65 years, with many progressing to
ESRD earlier in life (18, 36 and 56% by the age of 45, 50 and 55 years, respectively). Consistent with previous research and
clinical opinion, analyses supported the selection of baseline TKV as a prognostic factor for ADPKD progression, and
demonstrated its value as a strong predictor of future ESRD risk. Validation exercises and illustrative analyses confirmed
the ability of the ADPKD-OM to accurately predict disease progression towards ESRD across a range of clinically-relevant
patient profiles.
Conclusions: The ADPKD-OM represents a robust tool to predict natural disease progression and long-term outcomes in
ADPKD patients, based on readily available and/or measurable clinical characteristics. In conjunction with clinical
judgement, it has the potential to support decision-making in research and clinical practice
On the origin of European sheep as revealed by the diversity of the Balkan breeds and by optimizing population-genetic analysis tools
Background: In the Neolithic, domestic sheep migrated into Europe and subsequently spread in westerly and northwesterly directions. Reconstruction of these migrations and subsequent genetic events requires a more detailed characterization of the current phylogeographic differentiation. Results: We collected 50 K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) profiles of Balkan sheep that are currently found near the major Neolithic point of entry into Europe, and combined these data with published genotypes from southwest-Asian, Mediterranean, central-European and north-European sheep and from Asian and European mouflons. We detected clines, ancestral components and admixture by using variants of common analysis tools: geography-informative supervised principal component analysis (PCA), breed-specific admixture analysis, across-breed f 4 profiles and phylogenetic analysis of regional pools of breeds. The regional Balkan sheep populations exhibit considerable genetic overlap, but are clearly distinct from the breeds in surrounding regions. The Asian mouflon did not influence the differentiation of the European domestic sheep and is only distantly related to present-day sheep, including those from Iran where the mouflons were sampled. We demonstrate the occurrence, from southeast to northwest Europe, of a continuously increasing ancestral component of up to 20% contributed by the European mouflon, which is assumed to descend from the original Neolithic domesticates. The overall patterns indicate that the Balkan region and Italy served as post-domestication migration hubs, from which wool sheep reached Spain and north Italy with subsequent migrations northwards. The documented dispersal of Tarentine wool sheep during the Roman period may have been part of this process. Our results also reproduce the documented 18th century admixture of Spanish Merino sheep into several central-European breeds. Conclusions: Our results contribute to a better understanding of the events that have created the present diversity pattern, which is relevant for the management of the genetic resources represented by the European sheep population
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