Gender-specific psychosocial stressors influencing mental health among women elite and semielite athletes: a narrative review.

Elite and semielite athletes commonly experience mental health concerns and disorders. Compared with men athletes, women athletes are at greater risk of a range of psychological stressors that contribute to health concerns and mental health disorders, which can impact their career satisfaction and longevity. In order to address and improve the mental health of women athletes, it is necessary to simultaneously tackle the gender specific psychosocial stressors that contribute to mental health outcomes. This narrative review examines the gender-specific stressors that affect mental health and well-being in women athletes, some of which are modifiable. Psychosocial stressors identified include exposure to violence, be it psychological, physical or sexual in nature, which can result in a myriad of acute and long-lasting symptoms; and inequities as reflected in pay disparities, under-representation in the media, fewer opportunities in leadership positions and implications associated with family planning and motherhood. Strategies to promote mental health in women athletes should be considered, and where possible, should proactively address gender-specific stressors likely to influence mental health in order to maximise positive outcomes in women athletes.

A qualitative exploration of the client experience of inter-professional practice in the delivery of ActivePlus: a combined smoking cessation and physical activity intervention.

BACKGROUND: Research investigating interprofessional practice (IPP) frameworks has predominately focused on the service delivery of IPP or educating practitioners through interprofessional education. Minimal research has addressed client outcomes or the experience of clients with IPP in real world contexts. In this paper, we explore the experience of seven participants in the ActivePlus program, an IPP-based smoking cessation intervention combined with physical activity promotion. METHODS: Participants informed on their program experiences through post-program in-depth interviews. A thematic analysis drew out themes pertaining to participant experiences of the joint practice element of the IPP model of care. RESULTS: Analysis identified two major themes: the joint practice experience, and the client-centered approach of the IPP model of care. Participants reflected on the ways that having two health practitioners in joint sessions benefited their intervention experience, as well as providing some critical feedback. Participants also reported observing and valuing aspects of client-centered practice that strengthened the rapport within the practitioner-client team and aided their behaviour change progress. The client-centered practice was instrumental in overcoming initial teething issues with joint session delivery and alleviating pre-program participant concerns about being outnumbered by multiple practitioners. CONCLUSION: Despite some early teething issues, participants reported a positive acceptance of the IPP and joint session delivery model, which added value to the overall ActivePlus program. Results from this research can provide practitioners with a client perspective on the key aspects they perceive as important in IPP joint session delivery. Further investigation into the client perception in similar interventions is recommended with larger samples and non-clinical groups.

Beyond stereotypes: The role of exposure in reshaping Children's biases towards women as coaches in sports.

The underrepresentation of women in sports coaching, linked to discrimination and bias may, according to contact theory, be mitigated by increasing the visibility of women coaches, especially among children. Our study examined whether young athletes exposed to women coaches affected their explicit and implicit biases compared to unexposed peers. Seventy-five children aged between 4 and 17 years were evaluated using two explicit attitude measures and an Implicit Association Task. Results indicated that participants with women coach experience were more explicitly satisfied with woman coaches, preferred them more as potential coaches, and associated men with sports less than those without such exposure. Whilst exposure and implicit bias significantly predicted explicit satisfaction, exposure did not moderate the bias relationship. This suggests that exposure to women coaches reduces negative attitudes in young athletes but does not significantly affect the underlying influence of implicit biases, indicating a need for more comprehensive strategies to address gender inequalities in sports coaching.

Good organizational practices to encourage women high-performance coaches in sports.

Women play a vital role in professional sport on and off the field. Globally, the dearth of women high-performance coaches in sport is a concern. For example, in Australia women represent 15% of high-performance coaches. One reason could be due to the lack of knowledge on good organizational practices that encourage women in this role and the overwhelming knowledge of practices focused on barriers for women high-performance coaches. The purpose of our research was to determine what good organizational practices exist to attract, develop, and retain women as high-performance coaches in Australia. Using a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with two study groups that comprised 16 women high-performance coaches and 13 senior managers from five National Sport Organizations (NSOs) in Australia. Data analysis was guided by practices that influenced the attraction, development, and retention of women high-performance coaches. Practically, findings revealed 12 good organizational practices and 31 associated recommendations to assist senior managers from NSOs in their quest to encourage women high-performance coaches in their sport. Theoretically, our research "reverses the lens" of the Ecological Intersectional Model (EIM) at the organizational level whereby the focus turns to good organizational practices rather than barriers for women high-performance coaches.

Workplace Experiences of Women With Disability in Sport Organizations.

Women with disability often experience barriers to employment and career progression, most notably in hyper-masculinised industry sectors such as sport. Applying an intersectionality lens and insights from critical disability theory, this research explores the lived experiences of eight women with varying types of disability through their stories of working and volunteering in sport organizations in Victoria (Australia). Analyses of the interviews highlighted the importance that these women attached to their identity as a woman with disability and the intrapersonal and organizational factors that impacted on initial sport workplace attraction and retention. The findings discuss the relationship management strategies adopted to manage these factors in workplace interactions. The interactive effect between disability and gender contributes to building a meaningful understanding of the intersectionality for women with disability in sport organizations.

A mixed-method study of the efficacy of physical activity consultation as an adjunct to standard smoking cessation treatment among male smokers in Malaysia.

BACKGROUND: This study examined the effectiveness of using Physical Activity Consultation (PAC) as an addition to the standard smoking cessation treatment in Malaysia. We explored participants' experiences in terms of physical activity and smoking abstinence with the combined PAC and smoking cessation intervention. METHODS: Walk-in smokers from a local smoking cessation clinic volunteered for the 8-week intervention program, while undergoing standard smoking cessation treatment. In Week 1, a facilitator conducted a face-to-face intervention to explore participants' involvement in physical activity and helped to set physical activity strategies and goals for participants to increase physical activity levels. Participants were provided with follow-up phone calls at Weeks 3 and 6. Participants answered questionnaires that measured smoking withdrawal (Shiffman-Jarvik Withdrawal Scale), cessation self-efficacy (Cessation Self-efficacy Questionnaire), physical activity involvement (International Physical Activity Questionnaire), and mood (Brunel Mood Scale) upon recruitment, at post-intervention and at follow-up 3 months after the intervention ended. Participants also responded to interviews about their experiences with the PAC and smoking cessation treatment at post-intervention and at 3-month follow-up. RESULTS: Seven participants completed the program until follow-up. All were successfully abstinent. Only two participants increased physical activity levels, whereas others maintained their physical activity levels or showed slight decreases. Several themes were identified in this study, including participants' experiences with withdrawal symptoms, smoking cessation self-efficacy, triggers to smoking cessation, thoughts on standard smoking cessation treatment in Malaysia, physical activity involvement, mood, and thoughts and beliefs on combining smoking cessation and physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests PAC was helpful in maintaining or increasing the overall physical activity levels of participants and could assist with smoking abstinence. Findings showed that all participants who stayed in the program were successfully abstinent. In general, the findings in this study provided promising results for further research on PAC as an adjunct to smoking cessation treatments in Malaysia. Trial registration This intervention is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (Trial registration number: ACTRN12616000269437).

Examining the role of parental self-regulation in family physical activity: a mixed-methods approach.

Physical activity (PA) is essential for good health. However, parents risk becoming less active because of the demands of parenting. This has consequences for children as parents are role models. The present study used a mixed-methods approach to explore parental self-regulation associated with PA. Data were collected from 36 parents with preschool-aged children. They were interviewed about their PA and their family's PA. Parents also completed PA and self-regulation questionnaires and wore an accelerometer for five days. Qualitative data were examined using an inductive approach to thematic analysis. It showed that parents felt that they had limited time for personal PA. Mothers' self-regulation was driven by an ethic of care and subjective norms, whereas fathers' self-regulation was driven by beliefs about the importance of autonomy. Nevertheless, both parents saw caring for their children as the main priority. Quantitative data were examined using multiple regression analyses. Results showed that different self-regulatory behaviours predicted the PA of mothers and fathers. Which predictors were significant depended on the type of activity and how it was measured. The findings warrant longitudinal research that would enable the effect of family dynamics on self-regulation associated with PA to be assessed.