Health in Focus (Asynchronous Session)
Power Rehabilitation that Promotes Behavioral Changes in the Elderly View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kazutoshi Furukawa
This study considers power rehabilitation, a new technique to restore decreased mental/physical activity levels resulting from aging or organic disorders, increase independence, and improve the quality of life. It promotes behavioral changes by reactivating the nerves and muscles of the whole body, which have become unused (inactive) due to aging or disease, using exclusive training machines that allow exercise at low intensity levels or with slightly increasing loads. Power rehabilitation is generally performed using six types of training machines, but it is not a program simply for muscle training. Although loads are gradually increased, intensity levels are kept low, and rhythmical and reciprocal movements are executed. The impact of power rehabilitation on the heart is lower than that of ‘bathing’, and it involves almost no risks associated with exercise. In Japan, a group to study power rehabilitation was organized in 2001. Currently, a total of 4,764 facilities, including day service centers and hospitals, are providing power rehabilitation services. The total numbers of those who have completed basic skill, instructor training, and advanced instructor training programs up to the present are 14,457, 405, and 190, respectively, indicating that power rehabilitation has been widely promoted in Japan. It is markedly contributing to improvements in the care-dependent elderly’s mental and physical conditions.
Are General Practitioners Sitting Too Comfortably?: Clarifying the Extent of Sedentary Behaviour among General Practitioners View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Richard Mayne
Excessive sedentary behaviour is associated with a number of adverse health outcomes and increased all-cause mortality. This study gained quantitative data on levels of sedentary behaviour among general practitioners (GPs). A multi-item questionnaire survey (modified version of the International Sedentary Assessment Tool (ISAT)) was disseminated to GPs in Northern Ireland. Subsequently, a purposive, maximally varied sample of 20 survey respondents were recruited to wear thigh-worn accelerometers and complete a sleep/work log to obtain objective data regarding their sedentary behaviour. This allowed comparison of subjective, self-reported data with objective, accelerometer data. Out of 1999 GPs in Northern Ireland, the questionnaire received 352 valid responses (response rate of 18%). Overall mean workday sedentary time for GPs was 10 hours 20 minutes. Overall mean non-workday sedentary time was 4 hrs 47 minutes. Only 6% of GPs had access to an active workstation, such as a standing desk, however 61% of those who didn’t have an active workstation would consider using one. 81% of GPs reported they are spending more time sitting in work now than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. 87% of GPs would prefer less time sitting in work. Sedentary behaviour among GPs has increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the vast majority of GPs exceeding the recommended daily levels of sedentary behaviour. GPs who are more physically active are more likely to recommend physical activity to their patients. Further research is therefore required to identify ways of reducing sedentary behaviour and increase physical activity among GPs.
Educational Value of Physical Activities in the Natural Environment Developed Using Experiential Methodologies: Systematic Review View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Virginia Gómez Barrios, Lázaro Mediavilla Saldaña, Vicente Gómez Encinas
Physical activities in the natural environment can contribute to the individual’s integral development as long as they are considered from an educational perspective and planned in advance. This research has focused on those activities that use an experiential methodology to achieve educational objectives. They are characterised by being based on learning through first-person experience, involving participants in their own learning processes. The main objective was to analyse the educational value of physical activities in the natural environment, developed through educational methodologies based on experiential learning. A systematic review was performed to analyse the existing literature in the field between 2004 and 2018, search words were selected, a series of eligibility and exclusion criteria were established for the publications found and the sources of information used for the search for material were chosen. A total of 3361 publications were found, from which 15 were selected after successive screening processes. Finally, these studies were analysed in order to observe the existence of benefits for the participants in physical, cognitive and psychological aspects after the implementation of the programmes. As a conclusion, the paper highlights recognition of the educational value of physical activities in the natural environment developed using experiential methodology.
Mental and Physical Health Problems in Sport: Deeply Examining the Role of Negative Emotion Norms and Inordinate Affections View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jane Lee Sinden
Mental and physical health problems continue to be a major concern in sport. Secular sport psychology looks at some ways to improve athletes' health however missing is a thoroughly look at deeper issues related to 1) beliefs about emotions (such as emotions are feminine, private, irrational, weak and negative) and subsequent expression of thoughts and feelings, 2) normalization of emotion in sport environments, 3) inordinate affections, and 4) practical ways to help coaches and educators improve the health and spiritual formation of their athletes.
Athletes’ Perceptions of Physical Contact, Violence, and Injury Risk in Canadian Football and Rugby View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Cullum Brownbridge, Curtis Fogel
Canadian football and rugby are distinct sports with different playing rules and objectives. However, both sports involve considerable bodily contact and force between opponents, and can lead to catastrophic, life-altering injuries. Drawing on semi-structured qualitative interviews with male athletes who have competed at elite levels of Canadian football and rugby, this paper examines athletes’ perceptions of physical contact, consent, violence, and injury risk across the two high contact sports. Through this comparative analysis, parallels and differences in athlete perceptions of the two sports are highlighted. Strategies to reduce non-consensual violence and catastrophic injuries, and enhance athlete safety, are also explored.
The Management and Presentation of Veteran Identities in Supportive Sporting Spaces View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Rebecca O'hanlon
Sport and physical activity have widely been used as a tool for support, development, and social change (Spaaij, 2009; Coalter, 2010; Coalter 2012). Recognising the move from military to civilian life as a significant and possibly challenging life transition for many military personnel, sport and physical activity have also been used as a vehicle to support this change. This paper appreciates the varied experiences of veterans transitioning from the military and their engagement in the sport and physical activity programme; and seeks to understand the impact or influence this has. Drawing on data collected using an ethnographic approach, including over 440 hours of participant observations and 24 interviews, this study considers the performance and management of the multiple identities held by military veterans across the transition period and within the supportive sporting and physical activity sessions. Drawing on concepts from the work of Erving Goffman (1959; 1961; 1967) this includes the cultures created, the veterans’ presentation of self, and the team performances presented within the support focused sport and physical activity sessions. Reviewing these concepts in this context, implications for engagement and programme impact are also considered with recommendations for policy and practice.
Athletes' Understanding of Concussion - Certainty within Uncertainty
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Reem Alhashmi
Several scholars have examined the medical uncertainties faced by sport medicine professionals surrounding their diagnosis, treatment, and management of concussion. However, recent evidence suggests that combat sport athletes seem to have 'reasonably good concussion knowledge'. How, then, have athletes gained such an understanding when medical professionals have not? Given that the medical community is still searching for ‘certainty’, we argue that this logical inconsistency is most likely an artefact of the inflexible data collection methods rather than a nuanced representation of athletes’ actual understanding of concussion. This paper addresses this issue by employing immersive research strategies to provide epistemological space for complexities and contradictions that lie within fighters’ understanding of such experiences to come to the fore. In so doing, we demonstrate the interdependence between notions of ‘certainty’ and ‘uncertainty’ in fighters’ knowledge about concussion. In particular, we discuss how some athletes displayed ‘transient’ certainty within their understanding of concussion. To conclude this paper, we propose the notion of ‘the ‘expert’ on the street’ to explain the ways in which fighters gained ‘non-medical’ certainty and highlight the potential problems that are imbedded within it.
