| 1. |
- Back, Jenny, 1984-
(författare)
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Mechanisms of Exercise Dependence – A person centred approach to study the predictiveability of anxiety, obsessive passion and appearance orientation on exercise dependence
- 2017
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Ingår i: Sport Psychology. - 9788491482826 ; , s. 537-538
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Exercise dependence is a maladaptive pattern of exercise with a craving for physical activity that results in extreme exercise that may generate mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. Previous research suggests that individuals with certain personality traits are more prone to develop exercise dependence. However, research on personality traits and exercise dependence is still limited. In the current study, predictive abilities of anxiety, obsessive passion and appearance orientation on exercise dependence were investigated. A longitudinal design was adopted to investigate if personality related factors could predict exercise dependence. The sample consisted of 206 regular exercisers (100 males and 106 females) from various exercise groups, sport clubs and sport science classes in Sweden (Mage = 28,5 years; SD = 9,97). The LPA (Latent Profile Analysis) showed that a model with two profiles provided best fit to the data, and that profile belonging at T1 could predict measures of exercise dependence at T2. Profile 1: “high risk exercisers” reported significantly higher levels of exercise dependence, anxiety, obsessive passion and appearance orientation compared to Profile 2: “low risk exercisers”. This study highlights factors that may characterize people who develop exercise dependence. High-risk exercisers are obsessively passionate about their training and exercise may function as a tool to cope with anxiety. If the individual for some reason is prevented from training, feelings of anxiety and guilt are often experienced. Furthermore, these individuals tend to be self-conscious about how they look and appear to other people. To them, exercise may also work as a way to achieve body ideals. The results of the current study suggest plausible mechanisms of why exercise behaviours become unhealthy and uncontrollable for some exercisers whereas others manage to remain healthy.
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| 2. |
- Becker-Larsen, Astrid, et al.
(författare)
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"Organizing for excellence" : stress-recovery states in the Danish national orienteering team during a training camp and the 2015 World Championship
- 2017
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Ingår i: Sport psychology: Linking theory to practice. - 9788491482826 ; , s. 639-640
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Elite level athletes are under considerable pressure to perform, why energy management is a natural part of the life of elite athletes. Energy management is particularly important during periods of high demand on their resources, such as during training camps and competitions, which are often intense and do not allow sufficient time for recovery. Research on recovery has mainly focused on individual physical and physiological strategies. In the 2015 World Championship, the Danish national orienteering team was the best nation, winning four gold medals. In the present study we examined: (a) the stress-recovery states of the Danish orienteers during a three-week preparatory training camp and the following 2015 World Championship, and (b) their perceived sources of stress and recovery during the two events. The study was designed as mixed-method with the RESTQ-sport questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, and a coach’s journal as the data sources used longitudinally during the camp and the championship. Results revealed: (a) well-balanced stress-recovery states among all athletes during the entire period; and (b) perceived sources of stress and recovery classified into organizational, social, personal, and athletic. The athletes themselves stated that their well-balanced stress-recovery states positively affected their learning, well-being, and performance. The organizational strategies played a key role in reducing athletes’ unnecessary stress and in facilitating individual recovery. We suggest that “organizing for excellence”, keeping in mind athletes' energy management, is a special task for coaches and managers when preparing for camps and competitions.
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| 3. |
- Cruz, Jaume, et al.
(författare)
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PsyTool design and theoretical background
- 2017
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Ingår i: Sport psychology: Linking theory to practice. - 9788491482826 ; , s. 212-212
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- PsyTool is a European project, funded by Erasmus+ Sport Programme, led by the Universidad Pablo de Olavide (Sevilla, Spain). It brings together 13 partners from Spain, Portugal, Italy, United Kingdom and Sweden, running from January 2016 to December 2017. PsyTool is based theoretically on the concept of youth development through the practice of sport in positive and safe environments. The central idea is that this type of practice leads to a psychological wellbeing in all areas of personal development of athletes. Through sport programs that are free of bullying; zero permissiveness towards substance use; low acceptance of gamemanship and cheating, and at the same time promoters of fair play and clean competition, young athletes are more likely to increase their psychological well-being while they practice the sport to their best level of capacity. One of the most important assets of PsyTool is the formation of Agents of Change as inductors of this well-being promoter environment, according to their different responsibilities, from the politics to grassroot coaching. The AoCs’ selection, training and certification is one of the key points of this program. This so-called “targeted snowball” approach is expected to produce a spreading impact on the young athletes, which can be evaluated in the short and medium term, depending of the nature of the different AoCs. Coming form this design and theoretical background, this program –once the results have been analyzed- has to lead to a more ambitious development both in its scope and on the educational methods involved with.
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| 4. |
- Ekengren, Johan, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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From career initiation to discontinuation : an empirical career model of Swedish handball players
- 2017
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Ingår i: Sport psychology: Linking theory to practice. - 9788491482826 ; , s. 190-191
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This doctoral project was inspired by a set of challenges articulated in the cultural praxis of athletes’ careers paradigm (Stambulova & Ryba, 2013), and especially in regard of contextualizing career research and existing ‘general’ frameworks. Innovative aspects of this study consisted of: (a) exploring career experiences of Swedish handball players with foci on stages and transitions in their athletic and non-athletic development, and (b) consolidating the players’ first-hand data into an empirical career model of Swedish handball players (further – the empirical model). The holistic athletic career model (Wylleman, Reints & De Knop, 2013) served as a prototype for the empirical model and was useful in structuring the players’ career experiences. Eighteen elite Swedish handball players (retiring or just recently retired) took part in narrative type interviews about their whole careers with an interest in both athletic and non-athletic developments. Thematic analysis initially took a deductive turn to identify the handball career structure, and then the empirical data relevant to each stage/sub-stage were analysed inductively to identify themes describing players’ career experiences at each stage. Finally, the themes were incorporated into the stage-like structure, and the empirical model was completed. The model describes careers of Swedish handball players as having four stages – initiation, development (with three sub-stages), mastery (with four sub-stages), and discontinuation. It also contains eight layers – athletic categorisation in terms of age, pathways of the Swedish Handball Federation, academic/vocational, psychological, psychosocial, and financial developments – all aligned with age markers and complemented by sets of themes describing players’ stage-by-stage career experiences from the holistic perspective. Further in the project the empirical model will be used to create the ‘whole career’ psychological support system for Swedish handball players.
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| 5. |
- Ekengren, Johan, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Returning home after playing abroad : re-adaptation challenges of elite Swedish handball players
- 2017
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Ingår i: Sport psychology: Linking theory to practice. - 9788491482826 ; , s. 531-531
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In cultural sport psychology and athlete migration literature (Ryba, Schinke, Stambulova, & Elbe, 2017) there is a call for studying athletes’ transnational mobility and cultural transitions out of, and back to the country of origin. This call is also echoed in the cultural praxis of athletes’ careers paradigm (Stambulova & Ryba, 2013) attracting attention of career researchers. This study is aimed at exploring “back home” re- adaptation challenges of elite Swedish handball players after several years of playing professionally abroad. Eleven players (six females) were interviewed about their careers from the beginning to the end, and their narratives about the transition back to Sweden were extracted from the larger data set and thematically analysed (Braun & Clarke, 2013). Participants spent abroad for M=7.2±2.8 years, and many of them came back having families and kids. Several informants narrated that the transition was more challenging than they expected, and they (especially at the beginning) felt themselves as strangers in their own land. Five major themes describing the transition challenges were: “to rethink self-identity”, “to renew family life”, “to re- establish links with relatives and family”, “to understand local laws and regulations”, “to keep in pace with the society”. The identity issue was addressed through a sense of being “in between” the identities of the home and the foreign cultures that elevated emotional discomfort, especially at the early phase of re-adjustment. Three themes describing coping strategies used in the re-adaptation were: “don’t give up” (i.e., attempt to change own attitude and the situation to the better), “use social skills” (e.g., be alert and communicate) and “search for social support” (e.g., from a spouse and close family). Based on the findings, recommendations will be provided for pre-retirement planning of elite athletes and psychological support in their cultural transition and re-adaptation back home.
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| 6. |
- Henriksen, Kristoffer, et al.
(författare)
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Creating optimal environments for talent development
- 2017
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Ingår i: Sport psychology: Linking theory to practice. - 9788491482826 ; , s. 242-243
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The holistic ecological approach (HEA) to talent development in sport shifts researchers’ attention from the individual athletes to the broader environment in which they develop. The HEA provides a theoretical grounding, ecologically inferred definitions of talent development, two working models, and methodological guidelines. The HEA highlights two interconnected ways of analyzing athletic talent development environments (ATDE). First, there is a focus on the structure of the environment, particularly the roles and cooperation of key persons. Second, there is a focus on the organizational culture of the team. A number of in-depth case studies of successful talent development environments in Scandinavia have shown that while each environment is unique, they also share a number of features. They are characterized by proximal role modeling; an integration of efforts among the different agents (family, coaches, management etc.); inclusive training groups rather than early selection; a focus on long-term developmental rather than on early success, and a “strong and coherent” organizational culture. Moving from ecological research to ecologically informed practice, we add applied principles and provide an example of how these principles were used in developing a culture for goal directedness in a group of under-17 players in a football academy in Denmark. The case example demonstrates two main ideas: (1) a team’s organizational culture influences the athletes, or in popular terms the characteristics of culture become the character of the athletes; and (2) the coach plays a vital part in creating and maintaining a team culture. Together, the eight common features of successful ATDEs, the case examples, and the applied HEA principles can serve as a guide for practitioners aiming to improve talent development environments in sport.
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| 7. |
- Linnér, Lukas, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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Holistic approach to understanding a dual career environment at a Swedish university
- 2017
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Ingår i: Sport psychology: Linking theory to practice. - 9788491482826 ; , s. 243-244
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Dual career (DC; combination of sport and studies) research is traditionally focused on student-athletes’ developmental demands and coping resources. To support athletes’ talent development in combination with education, sport federations and universities (and others) co-create high performance centers or DC hubs. Research into these environments is limited. Inspired by the holistic ecological approach, and particularly by the athletic talent development environment model (Henriksen, 2010), we created the dual career development environment (DCDE) working model and then used this model to explore a ‘golf and study’ environment at a Swedish university. The DCDE model is structured into three levels (micro, meso, and macro) and three domains (study, sport, and private) taking into account societal institutions, sport and education systems. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with nine university elite golf-students about perceived support during their transition to, and first year within the environment, and with four stakeholders (e.g., coach, study director) to discover their perspective on the environment and the support they provided. Observations and documents collected from the environment web-page also supported the analysis. Key features of the investigated DCDE related mainly to the micro and meso levels and included: collaborative arrangements between sport and academic stakeholders aimed at facilitating the student-athletes’ DCs, high quality coaching and facilities, stakeholders’ shared focus on a ‘whole person’ including, for example, student- athletes’ physical and psychological well-being. It was also found that the daily life of the student-athletes was concentrated around the campus gym as a place to meet and discuss various sport, study and personal life issues with each other and with their physical coach (also a university teacher). Further study is planned to target the macro level of the environment to advance these findings.
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| 8. |
- Linnér, Lukas, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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Promoting dual career support services : Swedish perspectives and actions taken
- 2017
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Ingår i: Sport psychology: Linking theory to practice. - 9788491482826 ; , s. 47-47
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this presentation we share: (a) key findings on experiences and competences of Swedish dual career support providers (DCSP) from the European Project “Gold in Education and Elite Sport”, and (b) insights into the actions derived from the Project and taken to advance the dual career (DC) support services in Sweden. Across the country, 31 DCSPs (mean age= 47.4) completed the DCSP survey that measured perceptions of 35 competences to facilitate student-athletes’ development (e.g., be an active and supportive listener) and explored experiences of, and coping with, six DCSP’s scenarios (e.g., supporting a student-athlete when missing days in school). Additionally, six DCSPs took part in a focus group discussion on how they work and what methods they use to support their student-athletes. Overall, the results revealed that the DCSPs demonstrated high awareness of DC and related challenges, possessed necessary competences, managed the relevant scenarios, and reflected on their work in congruence with a whole person perspective. Results also indicated that the DCSPs worked mainly part time, held higher education degrees, but lacked specific DC education and networks. When positioning the findings within the Swedish DC context two major actions were initiated. First, as a DCSP is a new job profile in Sweden that should be developed, planning efforts for a national DCSP education system and a complementary national digital DC support service are currently in progress. Second, with the recent expansion of the Swedish DC system to include the higher education level, a shared basis is needed for sustainable development. Therefore, the Swedish Sport Confederation initiated the action of developing Swedish national DC Guidelines. The Guidelines will be briefly outlined with strategies to facilitate student-athletes’ DC development including different transitions and their search for optimal balance between sport, studies, and private life.
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| 9. |
- Moesch, Karin, 1975-
(författare)
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Applying ACT in the context of elite sports : a reflection on blurred lines between clinical issues and performance enhancement
- 2017
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Ingår i: Sport Psychology. - 9788491482826 ; , s. 186-186
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Being an athlete at international level is primarily about performance accomplishments, and sport psychology has traditionally focused on performance enhancement and clinical issues has received limited attention. However, mental health is becoming a greater concern in the context of elite sports (Baltzell, 2016; Gardner & Moore, 2006). Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) is regarded as the third wave of Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in clinical psychology (Hayes, 2004). Interestingly, ACT is becoming increasingly applied to the context of sports (Baltzell, 2016; Gardner & Moore, 2006). Basically, brief interventions of ACT can conceptually be described by three core pillars represented by open, aware and engaged (Strosahl, Robinson, & Gustavsson, 2012). Open is about the ability to accept uncomfortable sensations and distress without resistance and struggle. Consequently, when open, behaviour is shaped by direct results rather than rigid rules. Awareness is essentially the ability to experience the present moment and to take perspective on self and the story about self. Finally, engaged is the behaviour oriented dimension and is expressed by strong connection with values and the ability to sustain value-consistent actions. Moreover, value driven recovery behaviours may potentially enhance health and performance. Committed actions are specific behaviours that arise as “reflections” based upon values. Ultimately, athletes should be able to stay connected to valued driven behaviours, on purpose, in the present moment, and do it with full acceptance. This presentation will address sport psychology consultants who work across the blurred lines between performance enhancement and clinical issues with elite athletes with ACT-based interventions at the Olympics. Finally, the presentation will discuss some future directions with emphasise on preventive ACT-interventions applied to the elite sports.
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| 10. |
- Moesch, Karin, 1975-
(författare)
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The FEPSAC certification for specialists in applied sport psychology
- 2017
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Ingår i: Sport Psychology. - 9788491482826 ; , s. 295-296
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- A main goal of the currently elected Managing Council of the European Federation of Sport Psychology (FEPSAC) is to establish certification guidelines for specialists in applied sport psychology. These guidelines are to define the minimum standard for practitioners in the field of sport psychology - who can have an initial qualification background in either psychology or sport science - that must be met to qualify for professional independent practice in the field of applied sport psychology. This certified practitioner should be able to plan, execute and evaluate sport psychology counselling for mentally healthy athletes who aim to enhance and optimize performance and wellbeing. This excludes work with athletes who suffer from mental health problems, whilst being aware that the line between performance enhancement and mental health issues is not an obvious one (see Roberts, Faull & Tod, 2016). Up until now the members of the FEPSAC MC have analyzed and evaluated the certification systems of different European countries and discussed the topic with individuals and organizations with expertise in certification and education in applied sport psychology. Based on the outcome of these discussions, the MC put forward criteria that need to be met by practitioners in order to be able to receive the FEPSAC certification. These criteria relate to four areas, namely: (a) higher education qualification; (b) sspecialization in sport psychology; (c) supervised applied practice; and (d) commitment to European and FEPSAC values. During the presentation we will outline these four areas in more detail and further describe the progress FEPSAC has made with regard to implementing its certification system. The goal is to have the certification system running by 2019 preceded by a pilot phase in 2018.
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