Sport and Exercise Psychology Professional Doctorate Portfolio

The present portfolio illustrates the development of a trainee sport and exercise psychologist on a professional doctorate programme from January 2018, through March 2024, conducted through Liverpool John Moores University. More specifically, this portfolio provides insight into the trainee’s development and fulfilment of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and Health Care Professional Council’s (HCPC) respective required standards for sport and exercise psychology accreditation. These standards (professional standards, consultancy, research, and dissemination) are explored and reflected upon throughout this portfolio. Detailed professional practice and reflective practice logs outline the trainee’s experiences throughout her time on the programme accompanied by a reflective account of her development within each of the four competencies. Consultancy case studies, followed by a consultancy contract and report, provide insight into the trainee’s applied sport psychology practice in various sports and with a variation of clients, with a focus on the holistic development of clients through a foundation in humanistic values. Following this, a teaching case study and teaching diary illustrate critical, reflective accounts of the trainee’s engagement and development with teaching and dissemination across sport and academia. Subsequently, this thesis provides a systematic review exploring women’s experiences of sexism in sport, an empirical study exploring mental health conceptualisations in Premier League football academies, and an empirical study examining women’s experiences of sexism in sport. Finally, a reflective commentary reflects upon the trainee’s development experience and the importance of continued holistic development, authenticity, and congruency

Cutting Ties with Pro-Ana: A Narrative Inquiry Concerning the Experiences of Pro-Ana Disengagement from Six Former Site Users.

Websites advocating the benefits of eating disorders (“Pro-Ana”) tend to reinforce and maintain restrictive eating and purging behaviors. Yet remarkably, no study has explored individual accounts of disengagement from these sites and the associated meanings. Using narrative inquiry, this study sought to address this gap. From the interviews of six women, two overarching storylines emerged. The first closely tied disengagement to recovery with varying positions of personal agency claimed: this ranged from enforced and unwelcomed breaks that ignited change, to a personal choice that became viable through the development of alternative social and personal identities. A strong counternarrative to “disengagement as recovery” also emerged. Here, disengagement from Pro-Ana was storied alongside a need to retain an ED lifestyle. With “recovery” being just one reason for withdrawal from Pro-Ana sites, clinicians must remain curious about the meanings individuals ascribe to this act, without assuming it represents a step toward recovery.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

“Smile more”: Women’s experiences of sexism while working in sport from a social ecological perspective

Reports of sexism in sport are ever-growing despite the potential for sexism to impact the well-being of everyone negatively. Relatively little research has investigated this phenomenon, meaning we do not have a clear picture of women’s experiences and are far from implementing relevant solutions. We explored women’s experiences of sexism while working in sport to gain an understanding of how multiple ecological layers intertwine to influence women’s experiences. A survey, based on the Everyday Sexism Survey (McDonald et al., 2016), was completed by 105 women; qualitative data was abductively thematically analysed using LaVoi and Dutove’s (2012) ecological model to make sense of women’s experiences. Higher-order themes represented the intrapersonal, interpersonal, organisational, and sociocultural levels at which participants experienced sexism. Clear evidence of sexism at all levels of the ecological model demonstrates that organisations and policymakers must consider the social and personal change necessary for women working in sport

Recruitment of ethnic minority patients to a cardiac rehabilitation trial: The Birmingham Rehabilitation Uptake Maximisation (BRUM) study [ISRCTN72884263]

Background: Concerns have been raised about low participation rates of people from minority ethnic groups in clinical trials. However, the evidence is unclear as many studies do not report the ethnicity of participants and there is insufficient information about the reasons for ineligibility by ethnic group. Where there are data, there remains the key question as to whether ethnic minorities more likely to be ineligible (e.g. due to language) or decline to participate. We have addressed these questions in relation to the Birmingham Rehabilitation Uptake Maximisation (BRUM) study, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing a home-based with a hospital-based cardiac rehabilitation programme in a multi-ethnic population in the UK. Methods: Analysis of the ethnicity, age and sex of presenting and recruited subjects for a trial of cardiac rehabilitation in the West-Midlands, UK. Participants: 1997 patients presenting post-myocardial infarction, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty or coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Data collected: exclusion rates, reasons for exclusion and reasons for declining to participate in the trial by ethnic group. Results: Significantly more patients of South Asian ethnicity were excluded (52% of 'South Asian' v 36% 'White European' and 36% 'Other', p < 0.001). This difference in eligibility was primarily due to exclusion on the basis of language (i.e. the inability to speak English or Punjabi). Of those eligible, similar proportions were recruited from the different ethnic groups (white, South Asian and other). There was a marked difference in eligibility between people of Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin

Social capital theory: a cross-cutting analytic for teacher/therapist work in integrating children's services?

Reviewing relevant policy, this article argues that the current 'integration interlude' is concerned with reformation of work relations to create new forms of 'social capital'. The conceptual framework of social capital has been used by government policy-makers and academic researchers to examine different types, configurations and qualities of relationships, including professional relations, and how these may function as resources. Focusing on the co-work of teachers and speech and language therapists, this analysis introduces social capital as a means of understanding the impact of integrating children's services on professional practitioner groups and across agencies. Social capital theory is compared to alternative theoretical perspectives such as systems and discourse theories and explored as an analytic offering a multi-level typology and conceptual framework for understanding the effects of policy and governance on interprofessional working and relationships. A previous application of social capital theory in a literature review is introduced and analysed, and instances of the additionality provided by a social capital analysis is offered. The article concludes that amongst the effects of current policy to re-design children's services are the reconstruction of professionals' knowledge/s and practices, so it is essential that such policy processes that have complex and far-reaching effects are transparent and coherent. It is also important that new social capital relations in children's services are produced by groups representative of all involved, importantly including those practitioner groups charged in policy to work differently together in future integrated services

Anthropology, Brokerage and Collaboration in the development of a Tongan Public Psychiatry: Local Lessons for Global Mental Health

The Global Mental Health (GMH) movement has revitalised questions of the translatability of psychiatric concepts and the challenges of community engagement in countries where knowledge of the biomedical basis for psychiatric diagnosis is limited or challenged by local cultural codes. In Tonga, the local psychiatrist Dr Puloka has successfully established a publicly accessible psychiatry that has raised admission rates for serious mental illness and addressed some of the stigma attached to diagnosis. On the basis of historical analysis and ethnographic fieldwork with healers, doctors and patients since 1998, this article offers an ethnographic contextualization of the development and reception of three key interventions during the 1990s inspired by traditional healing and reliant on the translation of psychiatric terms and diagnosis. Dr Puloka’s use of medical anthropological and transcultural psychiatry research informed a community engaged brokerage between the implications of psychiatric nosologies and local needs. As such it reveals deficiencies in current polarised positions on the GMH project and offers suggestions to address current challenges of the Global Mental Health movement

Performing the city-region: imagineering, devolution and the search for legitimacy

This paper provides new conceptual and empirical insights in to the role city-regions play as part of a geopolitical strategy deployed by the nation state to enact its own interests, in conversation with local considerations. Emphasis falls on the performative roles of economic models and spatial-economic imaginaries in consolidating and legitimising region-building efforts and the strategies and tactics employed by advocates to gain credibility and traction for their chosen imaginaries. We focus on the Sheffield City Region (SCR) and Doncaster within it (South Yorkshire, England) drawing on 56 in-depth interviews with local policymakers, civic institutions and private sector stakeholders conducted between 2015 and 2018. In doing so, we identify three overlapping phases in the building of the SCR: a period of initial case-making to build momentum behind the SCR imaginary; a second of concerted challenge from alternative imaginaries; and a third where the SCR was co-constituted alongside the dominant alternative One Yorkshire imaginary. Our work suggests that the city-region imaginary has gained traction and sustained momentum as national interests have closed down local resistance to the SCR. This has momentarily locked local authorities into a preferred model of city-regional devolution but in playing its hand, central government has exposed city-region building as a precarious fix where alternative imaginaries simply constitute a ‘deferred problem’ for central government going forward

Critical Pause: Athletes’ Stories of Lockdown during COVID-19

This study explored the experiences of elite athletes during the initial stages of lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The eight recruited participants (three females, five males) were asked to tell a story of their lockdown experience. Narrative analysis was used to explore the athletes’ stories. The athletes’ narrative is best represented in four distinct sections: a) Threat to Goals, b) On-Going Consequences, c) Overcoming COVID-19, and d) Adapting to COVID-19. Four narrative themes were also co-constructed from the athletes’ stories: a) Factors Athletes Found Challenging, b) Loss, c) Strategies that Benefitted Athletes Psychologically, and d) Silver Linings. Combined, these findings suggest that the initial stages of lockdown are best described as a critical pause. We present applied implications for athletes and sport psychology practitioners. We also recommend future research investigate the longitudinal effect of prolonged lockdown on athletes’ lives and a potential return to sport

Hospital care of children with a cleft in England.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse hospital admissions in the first 2 years of life among children with cleft lip and/or palate in England. DESIGN: Analysis of national administrative data of hospital admissions. SETTING: National Health Service hospitals. PATIENTS: Patients born alive between 1997 and 2008 who underwent surgical cleft repair. OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of admissions, including the birth episode, and days spent in hospital were examined. Children were analysed according to cleft type and whether or not they had additional congenital anomalies. RESULTS: 10 892 children were included. In their first 2 years, children without additional anomalies (n=8482) had on average 3.2 admissions and 13.2 days in hospital, which varied from 2.6 admissions and 9.2 days with cleft lip to 4.7 admissions and 19.7 days with bilateral cleft lip and palate (BCLP). Children with additional anomalies (n=2410) had on average 6.7 admissions and 51.4 days in hospital, which varied from 6.4 admissions and 48.5 days with cleft palate to 8.8 admissions and 67.5 days with BCLP. The mean number and duration of cleft-related admissions was similar in children without (1.6 admissions and 6.4 days) and in those with additional anomalies (1.5 admissions and 8.5 days). 35.2% of children without additional anomalies had at least one emergency admission, whereas the corresponding figure was 67.3% with additional anomalies. CONCLUSIONS: The burden of hospital care in the first 2 years of life varied according to cleft type and presence of additional anomalies. However, cleft-specific hospital care did not differ between children with and without additional anomalies