The implementation of problem based learning styles to teach the Coach-Athlete relationship to undergraduate Sport and Exercise Science students

This study explored problem based learning (PBL) styles and it’s suitability to improve the learning experience of level 6 (third year) Sport and Exercise Science undergraduate university students compared to a traditional style of lecturing when teaching the Coach-Athlete relationship. Sixty-four (Mage years=23.47, SD=3.44) students attended a lecture on the topic of the Coach-Athlete relationship. A PBL task was implemented using images of a coach showing a hostile approach and another image of a coach using a friendly approach. These images were used to initiate discussions about the potential problems the scenarios could elicit. At the end of the session student’s completed a questionnaire regarding their thoughts about the session’s ability to aid learning and whether they felt it was preferred over a traditional style of lecturing as well as their enjoyment of the session. Eighty one percent (n=52) of participants found the task helpful to aid learning, 66% (n=42) of participants indicated that using this style of lecture could aid learning more than a traditional approach and 73% (n=47) of participants enjoyed the task. It may be useful to use PBL styles in lecture sessions to engage students within the topic area of the Coach-Athlete relationship. PBL could also be used to help develop transferable skills for those students who want to pursue a career in coaching

The prognostic value of dobutamine stress echocardiography amongst British Indian Asian and Afro-Caribbean patients: a comparison with European white patients

Background The incidence of cardiovascular disease is considerably disparate among different racial and ethnic populations. While dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) has been shown to be useful in Caucasian patients, its role among ethnic minority groups remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic importance of DSE in three ethnic groups in the UK. Methods DSE was performed on 6231 consecutive patients. After exclusions, 5329 patients formed the study (2676 [50.2 %] Indian Asian, 2219 [41.6 %] European white and 434 [8.1 %] Afro-Caribbean). Study outcome measures were non-fatal cardiac events (NFCE) and all-cause mortality. Results There were 849 (15.9 %) NFCE and 1365 (25.6 %) deaths over a median follow-up period of 4.6 years. In total 1174 (22 %) patients had inducible myocardial ischaemia during DSE, 859 (16.1 %) had fixed wall motion abnormalities and 3645 (68.4 %) patients had a normal study. Ethnicity did not predict events. Among the three ethnic groups, ischaemia on DSE was associated with 2 to 2.5 times the risk of non-fatal cardiac events and 1.2 to 1.4 times the risk of all-cause mortality. Peak wall motion score index was the strongest independent predictor of non-fatal cardiac events and all-cause mortality in all groups. The C statistic for the prediction of NFCE and all-cause mortality were significantly higher when DSE parameters were added to the standard risk factors for all ethnic groups. Conclusions DSE is a strong predictor of NFCE and all-cause mortality and provides predictive information beyond that provided by standard risk factors in three major racial and ethnic groups. No major differences among racial and ethnic groups in the predictive value of DSE was detected