The Impact of the Mathematics Support Centre on the Grades of First Year Students at the National University of Ireland Maynooth

In this paper we consider the mathematics grades of first year students at the National University of Ireland Maynooth and the influence that the Mathematics Support Centre has on these grades. We will consider evidence to suggest that the Mathematics Support Centre has a positive effect on the grades of the students who attend the centre. It seems to be particularly beneficial to students with weak mathematical backgrounds. As these students are most at risk of failing or dropping out of University, the positive impact of the Mathematics Support Centre on their grades is very encouragin

The Impact of the Mathematics Support Centre on the Grades of First Year Students at the National University of Ireland Maynooth

In this paper we consider the mathematics grades of first year students at the National University of Ireland Maynooth and the influence that the Mathematics Support Centre has on these grades. We will consider evidence to suggest that the Mathematics Support Centre has a positive effect on the grades of the students who attend the centre. It seems to be particularly beneficial to students with weak mathematical backgrounds. As these students are most at risk of failing or dropping out of University, the positive impact of the Mathematics Support Centre on their grades is very encouragin

The Impact of the Mathematics Support Centre on the Grades of First Year Students at the National University of Ireland Maynooth

In this paper we consider the mathematics grades of first year students at the National University of Ireland Maynooth and the influence that the Mathematics Support Centre has on these grades. We will consider evidence to suggest that the Mathematics Support Centre has a positive effect on the grades of the students who attend the centre. It seems to be particularly beneficial to students with weak mathematical backgrounds. As these students are most at risk of failing or dropping out of University, the positive impact of the Mathematics Support Centre on their grades is very encouragin

The what, how, where and when of resilience as a dynamic, episodic, self-regulating system: a response to Hill et al. (2018)

Resilience research is undergoing a shift away from trait approaches, acknowledging the inherent process and dynamism of stress interactions. Hill et al. (2018) suggest that to understand the iterative nature of the multifactorial resilience process, a dynamical systems approach needs to be used. We suggest that explaining resilience through Whetten’s (1989) what, how, where and when of theory building will elucidate our understanding of both the disruptive and reintegrative pathways of resilience. Adopting this approach to resilience, we clarify (a) self-regulatory and episodic pathways to positive adaptation in the face of a broader range of stressors, and (b) we use conservation of resources theory to explain the fluctuation and developable capacity of resilience. Researchers and practitioners are encouraged to develop resilience interventions for specific predictable adversities in sport. Building strategies around the dual pathway model will promote preventive and reintegrative resilience approaches, optimizing performance episodes and well-being in ongoing sporting endeavor

Practicing what we preach: investigating the role of social support in sport psychologists’ well-being

Well-being and mental health of psychologists and their clients can be strongly linked to the psychologists’ experience of work. We know from general theories of occupational health psychology that certain work factors will have a greater impact on well-being than others. Work engagement is positively related with occupational health, while burnout and workaholic tendencies relate negatively. An individual’s resources can buffer against these negative effects. Specifically, the environmental resource of social support can impede the impact and instance of workaholism and has a positive influence on burnout. Social support is often encouraged by sport psychologists in protecting an athlete’s well-being. Drawing on theory and research from work and organizational, health and social psychology we explore the lived experiences of burnout and work engagement among applied sport psychologists, investigating their perceptions of how these experiences impact their well-being. Thirty participants from five countries were asked, using semi-structured interviews, to recall specific incidents when feelings of work engagement and burnout occurred. We examined the influence of social support and its impact on these incidents. Thematic analysis revealed that burnout is frequently experienced despite high levels of work engagement. Sources of social support differ between groups of high burnout versus low burnout, as does reference to the dimensions of work engagement. Avenues for future research including investigating the role of mindfulness and therapeutic lifestyle changes for practitioners are outlined

The prevalence and cause(s) of burnout among applied psychologists: a systematic review

Purpose: Burnout has been shown to develop due to chronic stress or distress, which has negative implications for both physical and mental health and well-being. Burnout research originated in the “caring-professions.” However, there is a paucity of research which has focused specifically on how job demands, resources and personal characteristics affect burnout among practitioner psychologists. Methods: This PRISMA review (Moher et al., 2009) involved searches of key databases (i.e., Web of Knowledge, SCOPUS and Google Scholar) for articles published prior to 1st January, 2017. Articles concerning the prevalence and cause(s) of burnout in applied psychologists, that were published in the English language were included. Both quantitative and qualitative investigative studies were included in the review. The Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool (CCAT; Crowe, 2013) was used to appraise the quality of each paper included in this review. An inductive content analysis approach (Thomas, 2006) was subsequently conducted in order to identify the developing themes from the data. Results: The systematic review comprised 29 papers. The most commonly cited dimension of burnout by applied psychologists was emotional exhaustion (34.48% of papers). Atheoretical approaches were common among the published articles on burnout among applied psychologists.Workload and work setting are the most common job demands and factors that contribute to burnout among applied psychologists, with the resources and personal characteristics of research are age and experience, and sex the most commonly focused upon within the literature. Conclusions: The results of the current review offers evidence that burnout is a concern for those working in the delivery of psychological interventions. Emotional exhaustion is themost commonly reported dimension of burnout, with job and personal characteristics and resources also playing important roles in the development of burnout in the mental health care profession. Finally, tentative recommendations for those within the field of applied psycholog

Editorial: Mental health challenges in elite sport: balancing risk with reward

Mental health is a global societal challenge. Sport, more specifically, elite sport, offers a potential window into the mental health challenges of young people. We initiated this research topic by proposing that explanations for mental health disturbance in sport predominantly based on training load (e.g., mental health model, Raglin, 2001), overlooked the potential organizational stressors in the high performance sport environment and did not adequately account for sportrelated issues, including the consequences of injury, for non-normative transitions out of sport (Brewer and Redmond, 2017). In parallel with articles published in this research topic, recent research has advanced our knowledge of the prevalence of psychological disorders in elite sport, highlighting mental health issues among elite sport performers (e.g., Rice et al., 2016; Gouttebarge et al., 2017; Hagiwara et al., 2017). In light of this contemporary research, the present research topic on “Mental health challenges in elite sport: Balancing risk with reward” in Frontiers in Psychologymakes a contribution with 17 articles comprising original research, reviews, perspective features, and an abundance of commentaries on this important topic. Depression was a foremost concern highlighted in the articles included in this research topic, which was investigated with novel methodological approaches

Who’s to blame? The role of power and attributions in susceptibility to match-fixing

Objective: Official reports and anecdotal evidence suggest that people with power frequently put pressure on athletes to fix a match. Therefore, it is assumed that athletes may attribute their involvement to this pressure. The present study was designed to investigate the role that power, attributions and moral emotions may play in the decision to fix a match. Method: Team and individual sport athletes (N = 427) competing in five European countries participated in a quasi-experimental vignette design. Participants completed eight vignettes manipulating power, source of attributions and stability of attributions. Match-fixing susceptibility and five discrete anticipated moral emotions (guilt, shame, pride, indifference, anger) were measured. Results: The results of the analyses demonstrated that athletes are perceived to be most susceptible to match fixing when the reason is related to a stable attribute of the individual (e.g., enjoying gambling, having a betting problem). However, participants reported also being susceptible to match-fixing when power is high. Anticipated emotions negatively predicted match-fixing susceptibility and mediated the effect of attributions and power on match-fixing susceptibility. Conclusion: The findings provide information on the interplay between attributions, power and anticipated emotions in predicting match-fixing susceptibility, and the determinants of match-fixing susceptibility. This will be of benefit to policy makers, sporting organizations and researchers in developing policies and interventions to protect athletes from being vulnerable to match-fixing requests