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How can Exercise Referral Schemes increase physical activity: developing initial programme theory
Full text linkIncreasing activity levels is a priority for healthcare due to the role being active plays in preventing and treating multiple diseases. There is an increasing value of healthcare that is person-centred, which tailors support to meet people’s needs. The use of social prescribing, a community-based approach which focuses on a person’s strengths and encourages self management to improve wellbeing, has expanded rapidly in the United Kingdom. This approach has the potential to increase physical activity levels, but little is known about how this can be achieved. Exercise Referral is a person-centred community service which explicitly aims to increase physical activity. It has a detailed history, and lessons can be learnt about how it can achieve this outcome. Key documents, and best practice guidance over the history of exercise referral, highlighted several areas of learning for social prescribing. Active ingredients for success cover the following areas: partnership with medical referrers, standards of practice, offering counselling and a supportive journey for patients and robust practice management. These focal points are important as they bring essential resources and conditions into the limelight and consider prudent areas across the person’s journey, from first referral to the service content that is offered to them
Actors, interactions, ties, and networks: the ‘doing’ of talent identification and development work in elite youth football academies
No full textThe Premier League’s Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) has transformed the ways in which young players are recruited, coached, supported and evaluated. To date, our scientific understanding of talent identification and development processes has been largely informed by (post)positivist studies addressing the physiological, psychological and biomechanical features of elite youth performance. In this paper, Crossley’s relational theorising is presented as a heuristic device that could allow us to systematically recognise the interdependencies, ties, dialectics, and co-constituted interactions that comprise talent identification and development activities in professional football. We argue that his thesis enables us to better understand both a) the configuration and meaning making of those that comprise these relational networks, and b) the enabling and constraining features of (inter)action for these interconnected actors. For us, such knowledge can ultimately support the generation of accounts of talent identification and development that better reflect their inherently social, interactive and practical complexity
Introduction
No full texthe Early Career Framework (ECF) (Department for Education 2019a) is a reform for schools in England that has arisen from the Department for Education’s (DfE) focus on teacher supply, articulated through the teacher recruitment and retention strategy (Department for Education 2019b).
The ECF is intended to support early career teachers (ECTs) through mandatory two-year focused training as part of their induction phase to become fully qualified against the Teachers’ Standards (Department for Education 2021b). It became statutory in September 2021 following pilot programmes and early roll-out phases in the preceding two years. The ultimate aim of the ECF is to equip ECTs to teach effectively, to develop self-efficacy and thereby want to stay in teaching for the long term (mitigating ECT high levels of attrition – Worth, Lynch, Hilary, Rennie and Andrade 2018). The ECF applies to primary and secondary teachers in maintained (including academy) schools in England. It does not align with independent schools, early years or further educatio
The Acute Effects of Weighted Vest Protocols on 20-Metre Sprint Performance in Youth Soccer Players
Full text linkThis investigation examined the effects of a warm-up containing weighted vest (WV) sprints on subsequent 20-metre sprint time relative to a control (C) condition in youth soccer players (n=12, mean ± SD age 16 ± 0.60 years, height 175.17 ± 5.92 cm and body mass 61.85 ± 5.88 kg). The main experimental trials consisted of three WV conditions at 10, 20 and 30% of body mass (WV10, WV20 and WV30) and C. Participants were required to complete one 20-metre sprint with each of WV conditions or without additional mass as part of C prior to a 20-metre sprint at 4-, 8- and 12-minutes. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed no significant difference between any of the conditions and rest periods (p = >0.05). The between condition effect sizes for 20-metre sprint times were moderate at 4- and 12-minutes post WV10 (d = -0.86 and -1.15, respectively) and 12-minutes post WV20 (d = -0.84) and WV30 (d = -0.80). Moderate effect sizes were also observed at 4-minutes post WV10 (d = -1.04) and WV20 (d = -0.67) for 10-metre sprint times. These findings demonstrate that WV loading has no significant effect on 20-metre sprint time in youth soccer players. However, there is an opportunity for S&C coaches to implement WV warm-ups of no more than 30% body mass to improve 20-metre sprint times
‘A Physically Active Experience’: Setting the Stage for a New Approach to Engage Children in Physical Activity Using Themed Entertainment Experiences
No full textDespite the multiple health benefits that result from engaging in physical activity, data suggest that children are moving less.
Novel approaches to engaging children in physical activity are needed to address this public health concern. Recently, a new definition of physical activity was proposed that emphasizes, among other things, the fact that physical activity is deeply affective, emotional and situated in spaces that shape the experience. With the need to increase engagement in physical activity and this new proposed definition, this paper presents a more novel approach to addressing this problem through staging a physically active experience. The idea draws upon the well-established area of experience economy, which aims to engage those partaking in an educational, (e)aesthetic, escapist, and entertaining way. When staging something as an experience, the focus is on engagement. By staging physical activity as an experience, it is proposed that children can actively partake in physical activity in a way that is focused on the experience offered. This review explains the notion of experience economy and provides examples of how it could be applied to children’s physical activity. By creating an aesthetically pleasing, escapist and entertaining environment where children can learn and engage in physical activity, a more engaging positive experience of physical activity can be offered. Future research should examine the staging of physically active experiences for children and evaluate the practical implementation and effectiveness of this new approach to increasing children’s engagement in physical activity
Chapter 27
No full textNot all research careers look the same. Not all academics spend their working lives in labs, or dark offices surrounded by dusty books. A research career can mean working in theatres or schools, influencing policy, working with the world’s leading brands and businesses, and much, much more.
Showing the true diversity of scholarship, and the women leading the way, ResearcHER offers an A-Z of research and researchers from around the world, exploring who researchers are and what they really do, all whilst celebrating female scholarship. Each short chapter offers an insight into a real-life researcher, their background and journey into a research career, what they’re currently researching, their top tips for budding researchers, and fun facts and activities to explore yourself.
ResearcHER smashes stereotypes to show you that research is not just conducted by men and women in lab coats or stuck in stuffy offices; researchers are women from all backgrounds, researchers come from diverse geographies, are disabled and able-bodied, are transgender, nonbinary, queer. Researchers look just like you, and you could be one too
The Utilisation of Post-Activation Performance Enhancement to Enhance Jump Performance during Training and Sporting Competition
No full textPost-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) may be used to enhance jump performance. The review recommends PAPE can be subcategorised into two groups: Training PAPE and Performance PAPE. Training PAPE methods can be incorporated for training purposes where more select equipment, time, and space is available. Performance PAPE can be utilised to enhance competition performance in which limited, or no equipment, is required and can be easily performed before an event. This review highlighted that isoinertial methods are commonly employed for both performance and Training PAPE; however, plyometric training appears a more favourable form of Performance PAPE. Furthermore, accentuated eccentric loading could be coupled with plyometric training to achieve the highest PAPE response, but further work is required
The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on severe asthma care in Europe - will care change for good?
Full text linkBackground: The COVID-19 pandemic has put pressure on health-care services forcing the reorganisation of traditional care pathways. We investigated how physicians taking care of severe asthma patients in Europe reorganised care, and how these changes affected patient satisfaction, asthma control and future care.
Methods: In this European-wide cross-sectional study, patient surveys were sent to patients with a physician-diagnosis of severe asthma, and physician surveys to severe asthma specialists between November 2020 and May 2021.
Results: 1101 patients and 268 physicians from 16 European countries contributed to the study. Common physician-reported changes in severe asthma care included use of video/phone consultations (46%), reduced availability of physicians (43%) and change to home-administered biologics (38%). Change to phone/video consultations was reported in 45% of patients, of whom 79% were satisfied or very satisfied with this change. Of 709 patients on biologics, 24% experienced changes in biologic care, of whom 92% were changed to home-administered biologics and of these 62% were satisfied or very satisfied with this change. Only 2% reported worsening asthma symptoms associated with changes in biologic care. Many physicians expect continued implementation of video/phone consultations (41%) and home administration of biologics (52%).
Conclusions: Change to video/phone consultations and home administration of biologics was common in severe asthma care during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was associated with high satisfaction levels in most but not all cases. Many physicians expect these changes to continue in future severe asthma care, though satisfaction levels may change after the pandemic
Social Prescribing and Physical Activity: Scoping an Agenda for Policy, Practice and Research
Full text linkThe Chief Medical Officer recommends that we should do at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a week to keep us healthy and promote our wellbeing. Whilst the percentage of people achieving this target has increased in recent years many people do not reach this level on a regular basis and levels of inactivity remain stubbornly high. As it is well established that physical activity can contribute positively to an individual’s physical wellbeing, mental wellbeing, personal development and social and community cohesion as well as national economic development, increasing physical active is now a worldwide priority and it is widely acknowledged that more needs to be done to support and motivate those not currently meeting physical activity target
Educational Isolation and the challenge of ‘place’ for securing and sustaining a quality teacher supply
No full textEducational Isolation, conceptualized by Ovenden-Hope and Passy, identifies three combined elements experienced by schools that limit their access to the resources necessary for school improvement; geographical remoteness, socioeconomic deprivation and cultural isolation. Educationally isolated schools are typically located in deprived coastal, rural and ex-industrial areas in England. School performance of Educationally Isolated schools has been consistently lower than for urban schools with similarly socioeconomically deprived communities. The focus of education policy until recently on supporting schools in densely populated urban areas, such as The London Challenge, alongside urban schools’ geographical connectedness and cultural opportunities, helps understanding of differences in school performance caused by place.
This chapter explores the challenges of place for securing and sustaining quality in teacher supply in England. Educational Isolation is used as the framework for examining the way in which a school’s location can limit its access to a quality workforce. The notion of ‘quality’ in teaching is discussed in relation to the recruitment, professional development and retention of teachers in Educationally Isolated schools. The increasing number of unqualified teachers (and school leaders) in state funded schools in England, 25078 in 2019, with a higher proportion in Educationally Isolated schools, is examined. The chapter concludes by demonstrating a relationship between place and securing and sustaining a quality teacher supply, and the need for the government in England to devise policies that enable equitable school access to resources for school improvement regardless of their place