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The construction and validation of the Severe Asthma Questionnaire
Get PDFBackground The USA's Food and Drug Administration's procedure for scale validation requires a documented stepwise process of qualitative and quantitative data. The aim of this paper is to provide the final quantitative validating data.
Methods The severe asthma questionnaire (SAQ), asthma control test (ACT), MiniAQLQ, and EQ-5D-5L were completed by 160 patients attending a severe asthma clinic; 51 patients completed the SAQ on two occasions for test-retest reliability analysis. The SAQ produces two scores, an SAQ score based on the average of 16 items and a SAQ-global score from a single 100-point global quality of life scale.
Results Construct validity was demonstrated through factor analysis of the 16 items, convergent validity by correlations of > 0.6 between the SAQ, SAQ-global and other questionnaires, and discriminant validity by the ability of the SAQ and SAQ-global to distinguish between different treatment levels. Test-retest reliability (intra-class correlation) was 0.93 for the SAQ and 0.93 for the SAQ-global, and the alpha coefficient for the SAQ was 0.93.
Conclusions The SAQ was developed using recommended qualitative and quantitative procedures for scale development, and can be used to gain insight into patients’ perceptions of the impact of severe asthma and its treatment on their lives
Issues, Patterns and Strategies in the Development of Event Portfolios: Configuring Models, Design and Policy
Get PDFWhilst the use of event portfolios as a multi-purpose policy tool is increasing worldwide, academic attention on this phenomenon remains sparse. In response, the purpose of this review paper is to identify the major issues in the use of portfolios by host communities and destinations aspiring to become eventful and delineate the emergent development patterns and strategies. The paper postulates the core dynamics that can enable capacity-building in event portfolio development and suggests a network framework for setting up a holistic portfolio policy with systemic management properties. This framework provides a theoretical scaffolding to contextualize the first formalized city portfolio strategies. Based on this discussion, four major issues are identified: portfolio configurations, leveraging, sustainability, and community capacity-building. Policy implications are drawn that theorize the surfacing portfolio development models, design logics and strategic approaches. The effects on social structures are considered in terms of how they determine the longevity, legitimation, and institutional embeddedness of event portfolios. The paper proffers that event portfolios represent a multi-dimensional phenomenon and highly versatile policy tool with manifold configurations. Their sustainable growth requires a shift in event-tourism thinking from the hitherto focus on single major events to managing multiple events for achieving multiple purposes
Integrating sport events into destination development: A tourism leveraging event portfolio model
Get PDFExamining the landscape of environmental sustainability in sport management education
No full textBackground
Sport organizations place considerable importance on environmental sustainability (ES), underlining a movement away from exploiting to protecting the environment (Trendafilova et al., 2013). Correspondingly, higher education has recognized the need to include ES in curricula (Mitchell & Walinga, 2017). It is recommended that coursework develop student skills in problem-solving, assessing environmental impacts, managing environmental change, and providing knowledge regarding sustainable development (Thomas, 2009). However, less is known about ES coursework in sport management. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to conduct an inventory of current ES courses offered in sport management programs.
Methods
A questionnaire was distributed to the NASSM listserv (approximately 700 subscribers). Questions were aimed at determining if sport management programs provide ES in sport coursework as a stand-alone course or as a module within an existing course. Respondents were also asked to describe any challenges that prevented their program from delivering this content and to discuss the benefits of offering courses/modules focused on ES in sport.
Findings
Currently 65 responses have been collected, with additional participants being recruited. Preliminary findings indicate that 88% of respondents do not offer a stand-alone ES in sport course. The most common reasons given were a lack of faculty interest (27.02%) and a lack of program resources (22.92%). Respondents gave additional comments, including, “This is not a part of our program’s mission,” “This is not a core discipline of sport management,” and “It seems like a silly idea.”
However, 69.64% of respondents reported offering aspects of ES as a module within a parent course. Sport facility management and event management were the top two courses in which ES was embedded. Related to the benefits of offering ES modules and dedicated courses, some comments included, “It is a critical issue … and students gain a deeper understanding of its importance” and “It is important to teach emerging topics like environmental sustainability to student to embrace future trends in the industry.”
Implications
The sport industry is becoming progressively active in ES. Since sport management students will be working in the industry at various capacities, ES knowledge allows them to serve the industry better. By incorporating discussions of ES into the classroom, students will be challenged to innovate non-traditional ways of delivering sport while caring for the environment. Even programs with limited faculty, resources, or expertise in the area of ES can still weave this topic into existing coursework via course modules. Understanding the relationship between the environment and sport will prepare students to serve an industry that is determined to become a champion in sustainability
An exploration of the relationship between educational background and the coaching behaviours and practice activities of professional youth soccer coaches
Get PDFEvent Planning and Leveraging for Sport Tourism Development: The Case of a Rural Motorcycle Event
Get PDFThis case study focuses on planning and leveraging sport events for community-based sport tourism and economic development. It is presented from the point of view of a sport event/marketing coordinator (Ian) within the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) of the fictional rural community of Panorama. He has been assigned to write a report about the potential of organizing (and leveraging) a new motorcycle event tapping into the unparalleled success and experience of two car open road races that the town hosts. Ian is a recent sport management graduate who has just been hired by CVB and hence knows little about the community and its events. He begins preparing his report by collecting information and taking notes in order to understand the community dynamics affecting events and learn from the races with the purpose of identifying what would be the best means to attain benefits from the proposed new event. Drawing upon the theoretical underpinnings of sport event leverage and multi-purpose event portfolios, the case provides the opportunity for students to apply these tenets on a realistic context, taking them through a research path of gradual exploration and discovery of issues and means entailed in event portfolio planning and leveraging
Deconstructing comparative sport policy analysis: assumptions, challenges, and new directions
Get PDFDespite progress within comparative sport policy analysis over the past two decades and advancements within the broader comparative sociology literature, comparative analysis within sport policy/management remains limited and challenging. Furthermore, there is a dearth of literature that explicitly addresses the philosophical, methodological, and practical challenges of comparing sporting nations. We address this shortcoming by developing a framework to interrogate the philosophical assumptions and methodological approaches of comparing sporting nations. In doing so, we review the current state of comparative sport policy research and elaborate on the challenges and limitations of conducting comparative sport policy analysis. Thus, we seek to deconstruct the theory and method of comparative sport policy research by exploring its underlying assumptions and challenges. Ultimately, our broader intention is to reengage and reinvigorate scholarly debate surrounding the philosophical and methodological approaches of comparing sporting nations
A Pilot Study Assessing the Therapeutic Potential of a Vibratory Positive Expiratory Pressure Device (Acapella Choice) in the Treatment of Voice Disorders
Get PDFIntroduction
Semioccluded vocal tract exercises (SOVTEs) can involve a single source of vibration (eg, vocal folds in the straw exercise) or a dual source of vibration (eg, vocal folds and water bubbling in tube phonation) in the vocal tract. Oftentimes, this secondary source of vibration causes large oscillations in intraoral pressure and has been likened to a "massage effect." This study assesses the implementation of a positive expiratory pressure device (Acapella Choice) as a possible alternative SOVTE, which presents a secondary source of vibration without the need of a water container.
Methods
Twenty-two normophonic participants underwent acoustic, electroglottographic, and aerodynamic assessment before, during, and after phonation with two different established SOTVEs (silicone tube in water and straw in air) in addition to Acapella Choice.
Results
Acapella Choice produced the largest peak-to-peak amplitudes of intraoral pressure oscillation. Straw in air produced the largest static intraoral pressure. Straw in air and Acapella Choice presented significantly larger ranges of static pressures than tube in water phonation. Post-exercise condition showed a statistically larger sound pressure level for Acapella Choice.
Conclusions
Positive expiratory pressure devices, such as Acapella Choice, may be a promising alternative to established SOVTEs as it promotes large oscillatory pressures in the vocal tract without the need for a water container. This exercise also produces larger sound pressure level with no significant changes in glottic contact quotient, indicating improved vocal economy