“The story just brings the science to life”: exploring the use of stories to translate knowledge about self-regulatory processes during goal striving in running

Storied representations of research have been recommended and identified as an effective pedagogical tool to facilitate knowledge transfer to end users. However, storied forms of representation have not yet been used to communicate knowledge of self-regulation during goal striving in running. Therefore, building upon a previous programme of research represented via a traditional realist tale (Jackman et al., 2024), the study aims were twofold: (1) to construct stories that communicate runners’ lived experiences of self-regulation during goal striving in distance-running; and (2) to share these stories with relevant knowledge users to explore what they do on and for them in the short-term (1–2 weeks) and long-term (six months). Stories were constructed and represented through vignettes. To accommodate diverse views and appreciate different knowledge bases, we invited athletes, coaches, and sport psychologists to witness the vignettes and explored their responses via qualitative surveys and multiple interviews over time. Data analysis identified how the stories were useful for translating knowledge into practice, the reasons why, and how they acted on and for the participants. The accessibility of the stories enabled participants to connect meaningfully with the research. This expanded their knowledge, which some used in performances and to support other runners. Overall, our findings support an evolving body of research illustrating the potential of storied forms of representation to facilitate knowledge transfer, and extend understanding by providing a subject-specific (i.e., self-regulation and goal striving) and population-specific (i.e., running) example of how stories can work on and for athletes and practitioners

The impact of abuse experiences and coping responses on distress and mental health outcomes in sports officials

Sports officials (e.g., referees) experience multiple role-related stressors, including episodes of verbal, physical, and social media abuse. However, the impact of strategies employed to cope with abuse experiences is unknown. The aims of this study were to: (i) explore the prevalence and frequency of abuse experiences over a single season, (ii) determine the impact of abuse and other stressors on sports officials’ mental health, and (iii) understand the mental health impact of strategies utilised by sports officials to cope with abuse experiences. A total of 303 Gaelic games match officials completed an online survey measuring stressors (including abuse experiences), coping strategies, and mental health outcomes. Correlational and path analyses explored relationships between abuse experiences, coping strategies, distress, and subsequent mental health outcomes. In total, 88.11% of officials reported experiences of verbal abuse, 7.59% physical abuse, and 17.16% social media abuse during the previous season. Greater use of both avoidance-cognitive and approach-oriented coping was associated with higher distress and poorer mental health outcomes following verbal abuse. Moreso, greater use of avoidance-cognitive strategies to cope with verbal abuse from players predicted higher distress which, in turn, predicted higher anxiety, higher depression, and lower mental well-being. For social media abuse, self-blame, planning, and behavioural disengagement were associated with poorer mental health. The findings suggest that sports officials employ maladaptive coping for abuse experiences, negatively impacting on mental health outcomes. Developing alternative strategies, such as mastery-oriented coping, may help sports officials to deal with abuse experiences and better protect their mental health

Altering Pace Control and Pace Regulation: Attentional Focus Effects during Running

Purpose: To date there are no published studies directly comparing self-controlled and externally-controlled pace endurance tasks. However, previous research suggests pace control may impact on cognitive strategy use and effort perceptions. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the effects of manipulating perception of pace control on attentional focus, physiological, and psychological outcomes during running. A secondary aim was to determine the reproducibility of self-paced running performance when regulated by effort perceptions. Methods: Twenty experienced endurance runners completed four 3 km time-trials on a treadmill. Subjects completed two self-controlled pace (SC), one perceived exertion clamped (PE), and one externally-controlled pace (EC) time-trial. PE and EC were completed in a counterbalanced order. Pacing strategy for EC and perceived exertion instructions for PE replicated subjects' fastest SC time-trial. Results: Subjects reported a greater focus on cognitive strategies such as relaxing and optimizing running action during EC than SC. Mean heart rate was 2% lower during EC than SC despite an identical pacing strategy. Perceived exertion did not differ between the three conditions. However, increased internal sensory monitoring coincided with elevated effort perceptions in some subjects during EC, and a 10% slower completion time for PE (13.0 ± 1.6 min) than SC (11.8 ± 1.2 min). Conclusion: Altering pace control and pace regulation impacted on attentional focus. External control over pacing may facilitate performance, particularly when runners engage attentional strategies conducive to improved running efficiency. However, regulating pace based on effort perceptions alone may result in excessive monitoring of bodily sensations and a slower running speed. Accordingly, attentional focus interventions may prove beneficial for some athletes to adopt task-appropriate attentional strategies to optimize performance

Psychological strategies to resist slowing down or stopping during endurance activity: An expert opinion paper

Within this paper, we provide an expert opinion on five evidence-based psychological strategies that could help endurance participants overcome slowing down and stopping during performance: goal setting, motivational self-talk, relaxation, distraction, and pacing. We argue that these strategies are well-suited for delivery as brief-contact, educational interventions that could be accessible to large numbers of participants who do not have access to a sport and exercise psychologist. These interventions could be delivered using websites, online videos, workshops, or magazine articles. We propose a novel use for implementation intentions (i.e. if-then planning) to develop endurance participants’ conditional knowledge of when to use specific strategies. In addition, although research evidence suggests that these psychological strategies may be efficacious for overcoming thoughts of slowing down or stopping, there are important limitations in the research evidence. In particular, there is a dearth of ecologically valid, field-based effectiveness studies. Finally, we consider situations where attempts to resist slowing down or stopping during endurance activity may not be advisable. Scenarios include when there is an increased likelihood of injury, or when environmental conditions increase the risk of life-threatening event

Decreasing sprint duration from 20 to 10 s during reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training (REHIT) attenuates the increase in maximal aerobic capacity but has no effect on affective and perceptual responses

Purpose: Recent studies have demonstrated that modifying the ‘classic’ 6x30-s ‘all-out’ sprint interval training (SIT) protocol by incorporating either shorter sprints (6x10-s or 15-s sprints) or fewer sprints (e.g. 2x20-s sprints; reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training (REHIT)) does not attenuate the training-induced improvements in maximal aerobic capacity (V̇O2max). The aim of the present study was to determine whether reducing the sprint duration in the REHIT protocol from 20 s to 10 s per sprint influences acute affective responses and the change in V̇O2max following training. Methods: Thirty-six sedentary or recreationally active participants (17 women; mean±SD age: 22±3 y, BMI: 24.5±4.6 kg·m-2, V̇O2max: 37±8 mL·kg-1·min-1) were randomised to a group performing a ‘standard’ REHIT protocol involving 2x20-s sprints or a group who performed 2x10-s sprints. V̇O2max was determined before and after 6 weeks of 3 weekly training sessions. Acute affective responses and perceived exertion were assessed during training. Results: Greater increases in V̇O2max were observed for the group performing 20-s sprints (2.77±0.75 to 3.04±0.75 L·min-1; +10%) compared to the group performing 10-s sprints (2.58±0.57 vs. 2.67±3.04 L·min-1; +4%; group×time interaction effect: p<0.05; d=1.06). Positive affect and the mood state vigour increased post-exercise, while tension, depression and total mood disturbance decreased, and negative affect remained unchanged. Affective responses and perceived exertion were not altered by training and were not different between groups. Conclusion: Reducing sprint duration in the REHIT protocol from 20 s to 10 s attenuates improvements in V̇O2max, and does not result in more positive affective responses or lower perceived exertion

The effects of facial expression and relaxation cues on movement economy, physiological, and perceptual responses during running

ObjectivesPrevious research has supported the beneficial effects of relaxation training on running economy. However, no studies have compared the effects of brief contact instructions to alter facial expression or to relax on running economy or running performance. The primary aim of this study was to determine the effect of such attentional instructions on movement economy, physiological, and perceptual responses during running.MethodUsing a repeated measures design, 24 trained runners completed four 6 min running blocks at 70% of velocity at VO2max with 2 min rest between blocks. Condition order was randomized. Participants completed running blocks while smiling, frowning, consciously relaxing their hands and upper-body, or with a normal attentional focus (control). Cardiorespiratory responses were recorded continuously and participants reported perceived effort, affective valence, and activation after each condition.ResultsOxygen consumption was lower during smiling than frowning (d = −0.23) and control (d = −0.19) conditions. Fourteen participants were most economical when smiling in contrast with only one participant when consciously relaxing. Perceived effort was higher during frowning than smiling (d = 0.58) and relaxing (d = 0.49). Activation was higher during frowning than all other conditions (all d ≥ 0.59). Heart rate, affective valence, and manipulation adherence did not differ between conditions.ConclusionPeriodic smiling may improve movement economy during vigorous intensity running. In contrast, frowning may increase both effort perception and activation. A conscious focus on relaxing was not more efficacious on any outcome. The findings have implications for applied practice to improve endurance performance

Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries

Effectively reducing climate change requires marked, global behavior change. However, it is unclear which strategies are most likely to motivate people to change their climate beliefs and behaviors. Here, we tested 11 expert-crowdsourced interventions on four climate mitigation outcomes: beliefs, policy support, information sharing intention, and an effortful tree-planting behavioral task. Across 59,440 participants from 63 countries, the interventions' effectiveness was small, largely limited to nonclimate skeptics, and differed across outcomes: Beliefs were strengthened mostly by decreasing psychological distance (by 2.3%), policy support by writing a letter to a future-generation member (2.6%), information sharing by negative emotion induction (12.1%), and no intervention increased the more effortful behavior-several interventions even reduced tree planting. Last, the effects of each intervention differed depending on people's initial climate beliefs. These findings suggest that the impact of behavioral climate interventions varies across audiences and target behaviors