Applying The Silences Framework to explore the mental health of professional footballers

Professional footballers are increasingly vulnerable to developing common mental health symptoms and disorders. This is highlighted by the untimely deaths, by suicide, of the German international goalkeeper Robert Enke in 2009, and the former Wales international player and manager Gary Speed in 2011. It can be argued that these two players were marginalised and evidently suffered in silence. The demands within the professional game are significant, and there is an increasing pressure to perform. In addition to being exposed to the risk of significant life events in line with the general population, footballers are also frequently exposed to the distress caused by injury, psychological pressure, changing and ending of contracts, and club dynamics. As part of this qualitative study, eighteen current first team professional footballers were interviewed from across the English Football League (EFL) in order to explore how male professional footballers are affected by mental health. Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis (2006) was applied along with ‘The Silences Framework’ (Serrant-Green, 2010) to allow the voices of this marginalised group to be heard. This study makes an original contribution to the knowledge base as it is the first study to innovatively apply ‘The Silences Framework’ to a sporting context. This study does not just explore the views of professional footballers, a group which was little researched or understood before, but takes an iterative approach to explore these views within the context of closed networks and communities. This approach makes the findings unique in bringing out issues that have not been explored before such as the key themes of social networks, environment, help seeking and support, masking vulnerabilities, and mental health. The mental health theme is split into two sub themes which focus on the impact on self and the reaction of others. This study aimed to help identify issues that can impact upon a footballer’s mental health, understand how social construction occurs within football and identify the issues that affect men’s help seeking behaviour. Recommendations for further research, implications for practice, and for policy are identified with the aim of improving the mental health of professional footballers

A community arts programme for older people: an evaluation

PurposeThis paper presents an evaluation of a community based arts programme for older people in Nottinghamshire.DesignThe evaluation was conducted using a combination of pre and post-initiative quantitative questionnaires and qualitative focus group interviews. This article focuses upon the findings from the focus groups.FindingsParticipants reported feeling more positively about ageing and being more motivated to pursue new opportunities at the end of the programme. Five themes emerged from the focus group interviews, namely i) age and ageing, ii)the finished product, iii) new opportunities, iv) aspirations and the future and v) personal benefits. These related to increased confidence, having greater creative expression, meaningful occupation and opportunities for socialisation.Social ImplicationsThe programme was found to be successful in helping individuals feel more positive about their age, to feel more confident and motivated, to engage with others through mutual creativity, as well as to challenge negative social stereotypes of older people.Originality/ValueThe paper will be of relevance and value to those working with older people and those with an interest in the arts. This evaluation demonstrates the diversity of the older population with older citizen’s voices being at the heart of the programme

How are Australian higher education institutions contributing to change through innovative teaching and learning in virtual worlds?

Over the past decade, teaching and learning in virtual worlds has been at the forefront of many higher education institutions around the world. The DEHub Virtual Worlds Working Group (VWWG) consisting of Australian and New Zealand higher education academics was formed in 2009. These educators are investigating the role that virtual worlds play in the future of education and actively changing the direction of their own teaching practice and curricula. 47 academics reporting on 28 Australian higher education institutions present an overview of how they have changed directions through the effective use of virtual worlds for diverse teaching and learning activities such as business scenarios and virtual excursions, role-play simulations, experimentation and language development. The case studies offer insights into the ways in which institutions are continuing to change directions in their teaching to meet changing demands for innovative teaching, learning and research in virtual worlds. This paper highlights the ways in which the authors are using virtual worlds to create opportunities for rich, immersive and authentic activities that would be difficult or not possible to achieve through more traditional approaches

The impact of Covid-19 on the mental health of professional footballers

The Covid-19 pandemic has had huge ramifications on professional football. This commentary focuses on the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of professional footballers. Specifically, footballers within the English Premier League, English Football League, FA Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship. This commentary considers a holistic approach to mental health, the environment of professional football, and the impact of career transitions and critical moments on mental health. The intention is to stimulate discussion and further research of mental health and wellbeing within professional football. This paper considers the impact of Covid-19 and makes recommendations for professional football clubs to develop a holistic mental health strategy. We recommend that professional clubs increase the level of emotional support for professional footballers, and that this should not be a temporary measure due to the pandemic. Clubs should develop a long-term strategy to encourage players to seek emotional support