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A step towards community inclusion for individuals experiencing mental health challenges: promoting social inclusion and social recovery through physical activity
Get PDFPurpose
After initially positioning this paper within the broader mental health recovery literature, the authors highlight
the role that physical activity can play in promoting social inclusion and social recovery for those experiencing
mental health challenges.
Design
This conceptual paper draws together the limited, but growing, research on how physical activity can facilitate
improved social inclusion and benefit an individual’s recovery.
Findings
For individuals suffering with mental health challenges, not being able to exercise their right to inclusion is
concerning from a recovery perspective, since experiencing social inclusion is recognized as a facilitator of
recovery. Initial research has demonstrated by embracing community inclusion and supporting initiatives such
as physical activity programs, mental health services can better facilitate individuals' journeys towards social
inclusion and social recovery.
Research Implications
Future research should appreciate the interplay between inclusion, recovery and physical activity. Collaborating
with individuals with lived experience, peer mentors, and social prescribing teams to explore options for
physical activity within local communities fosters empowerment, social inclusion and ensures interventions
align with individuals' preferences and needs.
Practical Implications
Practitioners in health service and community settings should recognise the wide-ranging benefits of physical
activity for individuals with mental health challenges, especially in terms of helping their social inclusion and
social recovery
'Can women have it all?' Transitions in media representations of Jacinda Ardern's leadership and identity by a global newsroom
Get PDFThe paper examines changing media representations of Jacinda
Ardern, former Aotearoa New Zealand Prime Minister, from the
global broadcaster, BBC News Online, across three key milestones
in the politician’s career: her appointment, re-election and
resignation. Our socio-semantic analysis of this representation
demonstrates how the media intersect her professional identity
with age, gender, social class, and later, her identity as a mother.
Whilst earlier coverage of Ardern’s career praises her successfully
reconciling these aspects of her personal, social and professional
identities, later coverage implies that ‘having it all’ was never
really possible longer term. We argue that the visibility of this
discourse, and the focus on intersectional aspects of Ardern’s
personal and social identities, leads to her resignation being
positively evaluated as her ‘finally’ succumbing and committing
to the ‘natural’ inevitabilities of heterosexual family life. The
article considers what such representation means for Ardern and
women politicians and leaders more broadly, and contextualises
these findings in relation to existing research on media
representations of women in politics and leadership. Finally, we
also consider the value of a more longitudinal approach to
tracking the cumulative effects of the representation of social
actors and groups
Pupil referral units (PRUs) and alternative education provision; a think piece on making a case for parental choice for children with SEND
Get PDFParental choice remains a central theme in education policy in England. Parents have the right to choose how their children are educated. For some families this choice is surrendered, with volition and intention, to their local authority which allocates school places after parents, statutory guardians and families have made their decisions. Where applicable, after parents have selected mainstream education for children with SEND, their child might be evaluated, and a recommendation made for their child to undergo a managed move; typically to join a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) or Alternative Provision (AP). In this think piece, we advocate for PRUs and APs to sit alongside mainstream and special education schools to offer a more balanced first choice for parents. This means PRUs and APs are not ‘othered’ in this choice offer for parents. There are academic, psycho-social, emotional, well-being and self-affirming complexities which could, and quite frankly, tend to result in the pupils and students accessing settings such as these which appear to be othered in this way
Evaluation of multi-directional speed qualities throughout adolescence in youth soccer: The non-linear nature of transfer
Get PDFTraining and assessment of agility is often prioritised by soccer coaches and practitioners aiming to develop
multi-directional speed. Although the importance of agility is advocated throughout childhood and
adolescence, limited data evidence agility performance at different stages of adolescence. The purpose of
this study was to examine differences in multi-directional speed performance in youth soccer players
spanning an entire soccer academy. A total of 86 male junior-elite soccer players volunteered to participate.
Anthropometric data were collected, alongside performance data from a battery of physical tests including
sprinting, jumping, change of direction, reaction time, and agility. Bayesian models using log-likelihoods
from posterior simulations of parameter values displayed linear or curvilinear relationships between both
chronological and biological age and performance in all tests other than agility and reaction time. For agility
and reaction time tests, performance improved until ~14 years of age or the estimated age of peak height
velocity whereby arrested development in performance was observed. Our results demonstrate that while
most performance skills improve as chronological or biological age increases, measures of agility and
reaction time may not. These findings support the notion that agility performance is complex and multi�faceted, eliciting unique, challenging physical demands and non-linear development
Pacifism and peace activism in modern Britain: A history of the ‘peace studies problem’
Get PDFIt is over 40 years since Ceadel defined interwar British
pacifism as a ‘faith’. During that time, pacifism has had little
political significance and the influential peace movement of
the interwar years is now scarcely within living memory.
Yet, what Margaret Thatcher once described as ‘the peace
studies problem’ is a diverse and interdisciplinary field, and
one in which scholarship, peace activism and mainstream
politics are all closely intertwined. Feminist scholars and
peace activists have queried the links between militarism
and patriarchy; historians and ethicists have explored
medical pacifism and have asked whether medicine is (or
should be) a pacifist profession. More recently, scholars
have looked at interwar pacifism through the lens of the
Empire and have challenged the imperialist pacifist delu�sion. Despite pacifism's limited political influence, its his�tory over the last 40 years has explored the beliefs and
motivations of men and women struggling to respond to
militarism and the threat of war
Undergraduate and Postgraduate Strength and Conditioning Courses in the United Kingdom: A Report Study
Get PDFIn the United Kingdom (UK), a degree in strength
and conditioning (S&C) or an associated discipline is
a common requirement for obtaining a professional
S&C certification and employment as a S&C coach.
However, limited research has comprehensively
reviewed undergraduate and postgraduate S&C
degrees in the UK, which this study aimed to do.
A search for S&C degrees was conducted via
two directories. In total, 20 undergraduate and 29
postgraduate courses were identified. All course
information, including module titles, was extracted.
Course information was assessed using frequency
analysis and module titles via open coding. Entry
requirements for undergraduate degrees ranged
from 80–120 UCAS points, and a 2:1–2:2 degree
classification for postgraduate degrees. Almost half
of undergraduate S&C degrees were considered
‘multidisciplinary’ and included other topics
(e.g., BSc S&C and rehabilitation). Over half of
the undergraduate degrees offered a foundation
year, and 59% of postgraduate degrees offered
a non-academic entry option. Overall, 50% of
undergraduate degrees could be completed as
full-time or part-time, which increased to 79%
at postgraduate level. Placement modules were
compulsory across undergraduate degrees (except
for one) and featured to a lesser extent at the
postgraduate level. The most common modules at
the undergraduate level focused on anatomy and
physiology, S&C, biomechanics and movement
analysis, research, and academic and professional
skills. The least common modules were motor
learning and control, business, and sociology.
Differences were observed with postgraduate
degrees, given an increased focus on modules
associated with research, S&C, and academic
and professional skills. This information may help
higher education providers to evaluate, revise,
and develop S&C courses; awarding associations
further enhance recognition and accreditation
pathways for S&C degrees; potential employers
tailor job descriptions and specifications to align
with graduate capabilities; and prospective students
gain insight into each course, potentially informing
their course choice(s)
Attentional Biases Towards Body-Related Stimuli in Healthy Males: A Systematic Review
Get PDFRecent literature has discussed the role of attentional biases towards body-related stimuli. Specific foci have been on those with high levels of body image concerns and female samples. Unfortunately, there has been limited focus on male samples within existing literature. The aim of the current study was to provide a critical synthesis of the findings of existing studies exploring attentional biases in adult males towards body-related stimuli. Critical synthesis of the findings of 20 studies explored four key methodologies: eye-tracking, dot-probe, visual search, and other methodologies (e.g. ARDPEI task). The current review provides evidence of specific attentional biases towards body-related stimuli in adult males experiencing body image concerns. Similar patterns of attentional biases are also demonstrated in males with body image pathologies. However, there appears to be distinct patterns of attentional biases for male and female participants. It is recommended that future research considers these findings and utilises measures developed specifically for male samples. Furthermore, additional variables require further attention, i.e. reasons for engaging in social comparison and/or engaging in physical activity
Fusion – locating artistic hybridity in Miles Davis’ ‘Spanish Key’
Get PDFBitches Brew (Columbia, 1969) was possibly Miles Davis’s most provocative change of musical direction.
Existing literature heralds the album as spearheading fusion, an idiom mostly disparaged by academia as a
commercially driven sub-style of jazz offering no creative merit.
Neo-classicists have persistently endorsed an ideology positioning Davis and his followers as destroying hallowed
jazz traditions with bastardised artless commodity. Damaging terms such as imitation and appropriation permeate
their aesthetic hypotheses of fusion’s numerous kaleidoscopic models.
This paper follows a recent trend to re-address the music of fusion, by acknowledging works of those associated
with the movement as creative experiments in hybridity. Focussing on testimony by Davis, an analysis of his
fusion of jazz and flamenco in ‘Spanish Key’, and an adoption of thinking tool philosophies from Per Linell and
Mikhail Bakhtin, a blueprint for artistic hybridization offers a new perspective on the jazz trendsetter’s
experimentalism and for those that followed his lead
Embedding Physical Activity into Community-Based Peer Support Groups for those Severely Affected by Mental Illness
Get PDFDespite a growing evidence base on the effectiveness of community-based physical activity interventions for mental health, there is a lack of studies that focus on those affected by severe mental illness (SMI), who often experience poorer physical health, and are less physically active than the wider population. The use of peer support groups in this context is also understudied, despite benefits being documented in other contexts. This study examined the impact and process of a nationwide project to embed physical activity into peer support groups for those affected by SMI. Following the embedding of physical activity within peer support groups, interviews and focus groups were conducted to explore the experiences of those involved with the project and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The key findings related to: 1) the social aspects of embedding physical activity in the groups; 2) the focus on peer support and informal physical activity (rather than organised sport) being beneficial; 3) doing things differently and lessons to learn; and 4) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, we found that peer support is an important feature to include in projects encouraging those severely affected by mental illness to become more physically active
How changing discourses on borders and masculinity leads to the intensification of draft evasion
Get PDFThis study explores the vast intensification of ‘draft-dodging’ by looking at changes in attitudes towards the border and masculinity. Based on interviews conducted in 2011 and content analysis of newspaper coverage of military service and ‘draft-dodging’ in Cyprus between 2011 and 2019, this study shows that draft-dodging can intensify in the context of changing discourses on borders and masculinity. In particular, the opening of internal borders, the enlargement of borders to the European Union, and the shifting of the locus point of the conflict from inland to the maritime boundaries are the three border changes in Cyprus that contributed to draft evasion. Moreover, the emerging ‘Euro-Cypriot’ hegemonic masculinity maintains a weak relationship with the military. Through the case study of Cyprus, this article illustrates that paying attention to changing notions of border-related security and the reconfigured hegemonic masculinity will shed light on the model of public security and offer implications for draft evasion. The findings from post-conflict Cyprus can help understand draft evasion in Western and post-conflict societies