{"title":"Olympic and Paralympic athletes’ perceptions of the Canadian sport environment and mental health","authors":"Z. A. Poucher, K. Tamminen, G. Kerr","doi":"10.1080/2159676X.2023.2187443","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2023.2187443","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT While athletes can experience poor mental health, researchers often focuses on the personal factors that impact an athlete’s mental health. Such a narrow focus neglects the broader contextual factors, such as involvement within sport systems, that can impact athlete mental health. Purpose: The purpose of this project was to understand how elite sport training environments in Canada impact the mental health of athletes. Methods: Team Canada Olympic and Paralympic athletes (n = 32) from team and individual sports (water polo, basketball, rowing, athletics, swimming, gymnastics, and field hockey) each participated in one semi-structured interview. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Athletes identified environmental features that supported and detracted from their mental health, including: the provision of resources, social support, performance pressure, communication, language, and coaching. These features impacted athletes’ mental health experiences by influencing their perceptions of stigma, their perceptions of mental health as an organisational priority, their help-seeking behaviours, and the minimisation of their personal experiences. Discussion: Uncertainty and a lack of control were common features of the environment contributing to athletes’ perceptions of stress and negatively impacted their wellbeing, as did a lack of trust in support providers and negative coaching practices. While some environmental features impacted athletes’ mental health directly, many had an indirect impact on athletes’ mental health (e.g. led to the minimisation of personal mental health challenges). Identifying ways to enhance athlete autonomy and educate coaches about mental health and supportive coaching practices are important directions for future research and practice.","PeriodicalId":48542,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Research in Sport Exercise and Health","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44441807","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. deJonge, Madison F. Vani, Karly Zammitt, C. Sabiston
{"title":"One of these is not like the other: The retrospective experiences of girl athletes playing on boys’ sports teams during adolescence","authors":"M. deJonge, Madison F. Vani, Karly Zammitt, C. Sabiston","doi":"10.1080/2159676X.2023.2187444","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2023.2187444","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Adolescent sport is predominately organised by single-sex sport environments, where girls and boys compete separately. Enhancing opportunities for all youth to compete together may be important for providing broad sport opportunities for girls in sport, reframing preconceptions about the inferiority of girls’ athleticism, and for situating boys and girls within mutually respectful relationships. Yet, limited research has explored girls’ experiences of competing on boys’ sports teams. The current qualitative study explored young adult women’s retrospective experiences of playing on a boys’ sports team as an adolescent. Eleven women (M age = 20 years) who had played on a boys’ sports team during adolescence participated in individual semi-structured interviews. Using reflexive thematic analysis, three overarching themes were generated including (1) the culture of boys’ dominance and superiority in sport, (2) girls are positioned as the ‘other’, and (3) strategies to navigate the boys’ sport environment. Overall, the women reflected on the boys’ sport environment as superior regarding its opportunity for skill development and competition. However, they also described having to navigate tensions and problematic assumptions of girls’ inferiority in sport that limited their inclusion in the boys’ sport environment as an adolescent. The results highlight the complexity of navigating sex and gender in sport, and unique challenges associated with adolescent girls competing on boys’ sports teams. Researchers and policymakers should continue to understand and widely implement strategies for promoting positive sport environments to support adolescent girls and boys in competing together on sports teams.","PeriodicalId":48542,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Research in Sport Exercise and Health","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41254474","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Women moving forward in pictures: using digital photographs to explore postpartum women’s physical activity experiences","authors":"Corliss Bean, I. Lesser, Talia Ritondo","doi":"10.1080/2159676X.2023.2185283","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2023.2185283","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT While much research sees physical activity as an intervention for the postpartum body, there is limited literature understanding how postpartum physical activity affects women’s mental health and physical well-being. Unpacking how physical activity affects postpartum women holistically is critical because of the negative physical and mental health consequences accompanying the postpartum period. Thus, the purpose of this study was to use digital photographs to explore women’s experiences engaging in physical activity during the first-year postpartum. Auto-photography was used as it allowed postpartum women to share a photograph illustrating their physical activity experiences. This method allowed for comprehension regarding how participants believed physical activity impacted their mental health and physical well-being. Fifty women (M age = 31.82 years; M age of infant = 6.22 months) submitted a photo with a short text description explaining the photo context and what it represented. A reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the photos through a critical feminist lens. Study findings were organised into three themes. First, postpartum women engaging in physical activity experienced feelings of empowerment that helped heal the body and mind while reconnecting with their athletic identities. Second, doing so meant adapting their physical activity to motherhood or around motherhood. Third, postpartum women navigated many obstacles, including the COVID-19 pandemic, weather, and finding activewear that fit their changing bodies. Insights into these experiences may inform health promoters, healthcare professionals, recreation leaders, and women’s support networks to understand their needs when engaging in physical activity during the postpartum period.","PeriodicalId":48542,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Research in Sport Exercise and Health","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46162398","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"’It’s not all about me’: negotiating the transition out of (semi-) professional football from an autoethnographic perspective","authors":"Darryn Stamp, P. Potrac, L. Nelson","doi":"10.1080/2159676X.2023.2187445","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2023.2187445","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to explore the multiple transitions that occur during retirement from (semi-) professional sport. The study used an autoethnographic methodology to consider the embodied, relational and emotional dimensions of these transitions as I, the first author approached the end of my football career. Over a period of six years, I shared, reflected, evaluated and critiqued these transitional experiences and associated autoethnographic writings with authors two and three. Five vignettes were selected that helped me to better understand the fluctuant nature of my multiple identities in relation to multiple transitions. These data were subjected to an iterative analysis where I rigorously developed my emic and etic readings of them. The findings highlighted how being a (semi-) professional footballer was one identity among many and that these multiple identities were formed and re-formed through social interactions and relationships with various stakeholders. These transitional experiences initiated an array of physical sensations and sensate feelings that were then interpreted in relation to social cues and the social environment. Importantly, these embodied feelings were an unavoidable feature of my transition whereby my emotional experiences depended on my embodied interactions with others, my embodied interaction with my environment, and my embodied interpretations of these relationships. I make theoretical sense of my embodied social experiences using the work of Burkitt. The study offers an alternative perspective to the retirement literature whereby the methodology of self-stories promotes a greater self-awareness in relation to an athlete’s changing identities, changing social worlds and changing norms and traditions. In turn, this may help practitioners and athletes deconstruct cultural practices and better prepare for transitions away from sport.","PeriodicalId":48542,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Research in Sport Exercise and Health","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46125270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Natasha Kaushik, Veronica Allan, A. Latimer-Cheung, J. Koch, S. Sweet
{"title":"Exploring the leisure time physical activity (LTPA) experiences of women with a physical disability in India","authors":"Natasha Kaushik, Veronica Allan, A. Latimer-Cheung, J. Koch, S. Sweet","doi":"10.1080/2159676X.2023.2185280","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2023.2185280","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Empirical evidence has shown that leisure time physical activity (LTPA) has numerous benefits for women with a disability. However, little information is available on the nature of LTPA experiences within a majority world context. This study explored the LTPA experiences of women with a physical disability in India. Five women with a physical disability were interviewed in-person through go-along interviews. Photos and field notes were taken throughout the research process, including at the site of LTPA. A thematic narrative analysis was used to interpret the women’s experiences via three narratives. The multifaceted explorer focussed on LTPA as a means to a diverse life – enhancing health, friendships, and happiness. Spreading my wings storied LTPA as a transformative agent that enabled opportunities and promoted personal growth. Better me for a better you told the story of breaking boundaries and emerging as forerunners through LTPA. All three narratives showed how LTPA enabled and fostered empowerment, social support, and a sense of belonging. These insights highlight the need for more LTPA opportunities and targeted interventions for women with a disability in India and other majority world countries.","PeriodicalId":48542,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Research in Sport Exercise and Health","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45316942","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Remembering learning to play: reworking gendered memories of sport, physical activity, and movement","authors":"B. Clift, Jessica Francombe-Webb, S. Merchant","doi":"10.1080/2159676X.2022.2161609","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2022.2161609","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this article, we explore young women’s memories of their experiences with sport, physical activity, and play during their childhood. Through collective memory work – sharing, discussing, writing, and analysing sporting memories/histories – we examine (re)constructions of young women’s experiences of gendered relations of power, bodily awareness, and regulation within movement-based practices. The approach taken explores relationships between theory and method, a feature of post-qualitative inquiry. Forming a collaborative memory workshop with six young women (aged 19–22) and two researchers, we illustrate how working memories facilitates the interrogation of taken-for-granted assumptions about women’s active bodies. Represented through two memories in this paper, their production, representation, and analysis were a collaborative effort, not solely representative of two individual experiences. Despite growing up within a period wherein women’s access to and engagement with sport and physical activity is more available, common, and diverse compared to the youth of past generations, young women’s experiences explored here illustrate the ways in which movement-based practices are located within the confluence of postfeminist sensibilities including, intensely scrutinised gendered body cultures, potent neoliberal configurations, and discourses of empowerment. It is these new sporting and active femininities and the gendering experiences of physical culture that are explored within this paper through memory work and collective biography.","PeriodicalId":48542,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Research in Sport Exercise and Health","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43428228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A case study of alcohol use among male university rugby players","authors":"M. Harris, Carwyn Jones, David Brown","doi":"10.1080/2159676X.2023.2185281","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2023.2185281","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In the UK, research has established that student athletes consume greater quantities of alcohol than their non-athlete peers. The published literature suggests the drinking culture in sport is a social phenomenon. At present, however, the evidence does not tell us what the precise mechanisms involved in the production and reproduction of the drinking culture are. To gain a deeper understanding of these mechanisms a case study methodology was used, where a researcher was heavily immersed within a male university rugby environment for a season. Data sources included observation, field-note taking, documentation, conversational interviews, and formal semi-structured interviews. These athletes faced a multitude of pressures encouraging them to drink, and often. Firstly, alcohol use was embedded within athletes’ weekly routine. Over time, drinking became a taken-for-granted ritual of sport. Secondly, specific roles and responsibilities, punishments, and events, were used to ensure athletes complied with the drinking ethos. Thirdly, athletes used alcohol to gain status and reputation. This, however, led to a culture where no behaviours were off limits and led to potentially harmful consequences. Fourthly, institutional factors (such as alcohol price, availability and sponsorship) may have normalised and legitimised a heavy drinking culture. There is a need to confront and challenge the alcohol ethos at this and other similar institutions with a pervasive drinking culture to reduce the potential harm to individual athletes.","PeriodicalId":48542,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Research in Sport Exercise and Health","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45966208","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
R. Crook, C. Costas-Bradstreet, J. Spence, K. Tamminen, Cathy van Ingen, Tristan D. Hopper
{"title":"“I feel like a kid again”: the voices of youth experiencing homelessness in a mobile recreation program","authors":"R. Crook, C. Costas-Bradstreet, J. Spence, K. Tamminen, Cathy van Ingen, Tristan D. Hopper","doi":"10.1080/2159676X.2023.2175900","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2023.2175900","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Youth homelessness is at an all-time high in Canada and is a complex social issue. The vast majority of interventions and research focuses on addressing the immediate needs of people experiencing homelessness, such as housing, harm reduction (due to substance use, violence, and crime) food security, and illness. The important role that recreation, sport, and physical activity play in the lives of youth is well established, however, the experiences of homeless youth in these spaces are relatively unknown. Thus, in partnership with a not-for-profit organisation and emergency youth shelters, this research study explored homeless youths’ experience of participating in a mobile recreation-based program and how this experience impacted their everyday lives. Ten youth currently residing in emergency shelters who participated in the program engaged in either one-on-one or group interviews. A qualitative content analysis approach was employed and three key themes were identified: (1) creating safe social spaces and cultivating relationships, (2) reconnecting to previous passions and meaning, and (3) promoting wellness. Findings suggest that the recreation program provided unique and layered experiences for the youth participants and had profound impacts on their overall wellbeing. Implications for practitioners and policy makers are offered.","PeriodicalId":48542,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Research in Sport Exercise and Health","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47105075","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lisa R. Trainor, E. Bennett, A. Bundon, M. Tremblay, S. Mannella, P. Crocker
{"title":"Inescapable tensions: performance and/or psychological well-being in Olympic and Paralympic athletes during sport disruption","authors":"Lisa R. Trainor, E. Bennett, A. Bundon, M. Tremblay, S. Mannella, P. Crocker","doi":"10.1080/2159676X.2023.2175899","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2023.2175899","url":null,"abstract":"even doing less and constantly trying to remind yourself that what you are doing is enough . . . COVID has unnaturally put me in this new place where I have had to re-evaluate like do I really need to be doing that much stuff? Am I really at an optimal level doing that? So, there has been lots of opportunity for self-reflection throughout this process . . . and how can I find value in the things that I am doing so that I feel satisfied with this reduced level of production because I have to like otherwise it is going to be like . . . I can see why people could be struggling with their depression and their anxiety throughout COVID because it is hard.","PeriodicalId":48542,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Research in Sport Exercise and Health","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45086292","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Concussion in professional wrestling: agency, structure and cultural change","authors":"D. Malcolm, Anthony Papathomas, C. Warden","doi":"10.1080/2159676X.2023.2175898","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2023.2175898","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this article, we utilise the social dynamics of concussion in professional wrestling to examine and critique calls for cultural change as a solution to the crisis of concussion in sport. Drawing on interview data from wrestlers, promoters, referees and healthcare providers in UK professional wrestling, we illustrate the experiences, attitudes and subcultural norms exhibited in relation to concussion. Despite increasing concerns that brain injuries present unique risks to long-term health, wrestlers continue to embody a culture in which pain is ignored, and ‘playing’ with brain injury is linked to notions of masculinity and wrestling identity. We further explore the organisational features of wrestling, which facilitate and compound these risk-taking behaviours, and conclude by identifying the structural-cultural causes of concussion in wrestling. In sum, economic precarity encouraged risk-taking behaviours, while the ‘free agent’ status of many wrestlers obviated the potential for any continuity of healthcare or paternalistic protection. Moreover, changes to the dominant performative character of wrestling led many to undertake increasingly risky moves, and the serial nature of character development and the centrality of interpersonal negotiations in workplace practice threw precautionary attitudes into conflict with self-identity and social reputational concerns. We therefore conclude that existing public health interventions designed to address concussion in sport, and particularly the concept of cultural change, need to diversify from predominantly medical and psychology-based models and embrace more holistic, structural conceptions of culture.","PeriodicalId":48542,"journal":{"name":"Qualitative Research in Sport Exercise and Health","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2023-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47286739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}