Investigation of social variables associated with the use of doping among Armenian athletes

To improve the effectiveness of the fight against doping, it is necessary to assess the areas of risk of doping in various sports disciplines. Objective: to conduct a survey of Armenian athletes, to assess the impact of social variables on their attitude to the usage of doping, to identify areas of risk that require attention, and to assess beliefs about and attitude towards doping in different regions of Armenia and different sports. Materials and methods: 614 elite athletes (mean age - 19,9±2,6 years) included in this study represent track and field and weightlifting athletics, wrestling, boxing and etc. Results: based on the obtained results the decision was made to organize the education seminars for sports journalists. Athletes are greatly influenced by performances in which incompetent sports journalists never admit that the use of banned substances is immoral under any circumstances and always supports athletes who blame others of people. The results shown that Armenian athletes believe that they need to achieve their personal best without causing harm to their health. Conclusions: overall, the application of the WADA Social Science Research Package has provided valuable data on the current anti-doping situation, and also provided concrete directions for future efforts to reduce risk factors for doping

Towards a B2B E-Commerce Evaluation Management Model to Assess Organizational Drivers in Hospitals

Effective utilization of business-to-business (B2B) electronic commerce (e-commerce) in hospitals may lead to many benefits such as increased accessibility to healthcare providers, improved process efficiency, enhanced quality of healthcare services, increased responses to changes, decreased scheduling conflicts, and reduction in administrative costs. However, many hospitals have found that they have not yet fully reaped the expected benefits from their B2B e-commerce investments. Despite this, there has not been much discussion in the literature with respect to the relationship between the organizational drivers on B2B e-commerce benefits for hospitals. Hence, a mixed-method of case study and survey was conducted to examine the relationships between B2B e-commerce benefits, IT evaluation resources allocation, IT investment evaluation methodologies, IT maturity, and user information requirements determination process. A B2B e-commerce evaluation management model was developed to test these relationships. The results provided empirical evidence in support of our proposed model and revealed that hospitals’ IT evaluation resources allocation practices mediated the relationship of IT investment evaluation methodologies, IT maturity, and user information requirements determination process with B2B e-commerce benefits. The results also showed that the level of IT maturity had a significant impact on the adoption of IT investment evaluation methodologies

Physical activity and nutrition program for seniors (PANS): protocol of a randomized controlled trial

Background Along with reduced levels of physical activity, older Australian's mean energy consumption has increased. Now over 60% of older Australians are considered overweight or obese. This study aims to confirm if a low-cost, accessible physical activity and nutrition program can improve levels of physical activity and diet of insufficiently active 60-70 year-olds. Methods/Design This 12-month home-based randomised controlled trial (RCT) will consist of a nutrition and physical activity intervention for insufficiently active people aged 60 to 70 years from low to medium socio-economic areas. Six-hundred participants will be recruited from the Australian Federal Electoral Role and randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 300) and control (n = 300) groups. The study is based on the Social Cognitive Theory and Precede-Proceed Model, incorporating voluntary cooperation and self-efficacy. The intervention includes a specially designed booklet that provides participants with information and encourages dietary and physical activity goal setting. The booklet will be supported by an exercise chart, calendar, bi-monthly newsletters, resistance bands and pedometers, along with phone and email contact. Data will be collected over three time points: pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and 6-months post-study. Discussion This trial will provide valuable information for community-based strategies to improve older adults' physical activity and dietary intake. The project will provide guidelines for appropriate sample recruitment, and the development, implementation and evaluation of a minimal intervention program, as well as information on minimising barriers to participation in similar programs

Organizational Factors Affecting IS Outsourcing Success in Taiwanese Hospitals

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Development of a psycho-educational anti-doping intervention program for emerging athletes

Introduction: Current anti-doping programs focus on knowledge of banned substances, reporting and testing requirements, and penalties for noncompliance. This current approach ignores personality variables that may render an athlete susceptible to doping. We sought to develop an intervention targeting junior elite athletes that involved psycho-educational activities and exercises that target the personality variables we found to significantly differentiate athletes with respect to increased doping susceptibility: Sport motivation–susceptibles are more externally regulated and lesser intrinsically motivated; Achievement goals–susceptibles are characterised by lesser performance-approach and greater performance-avoidance; Athletic identity–susceptibles tend to have a strong public identity; Perfectionism–susceptibles are more concerned with mistakes and parental pressure; Fear of failure; Self-presentational concerns–susceptibles tend to be more worried about appearing athletically untalented, physically unattractive, fatigued/lacking energy, and mentally weak; Morality–susceptibles tend to have a positive disposition towards cheating and gamesmanship. Methods: The project consisted of three phases: 1) Focus group interviews with sports psychologists from across Australia to assist in generating the content of a psycho-educational intervention; 2) Following the input from psychologists a number of counselling approaches in common use by both psychologists in general and sports psychologists were reviewed to develop the specific content of the intervention; and 3) Feedback on the draft intervention was obtained from sport psychologists previously involved in the project.Results: A four modules intervention, to be delivered by a sports psychologist over four weeks in sessions lasting from 1Ω to 2 hours for groups of around 10 athletes, was developed. The intervention is titled “Improving performance by dealing with negative thoughts that can impede sport performance”. The overall aim of the intervention is to show athletes how they can overcome various negative thoughts and feelings that are impeding their performance. Discussion: By dealing with these issues, the intervention not only aims to improve performance, but also lessen athletes’ likelihood of showing poor sportsmanship, being tempted to cheat, and hence lessen their vulnerability to trying illegal methods to improve their performance. Sports psychologists who wish to field test the intervention are advised that: a) specific examples are to be elicited from athletes and from the participants’ fields of sport; b) sport psychologists could adapt their preferred counselling technique to the issues; and c) to avoid boredom and to enhance internalisation of the concepts, the sessions should be as interactive as possible