Birmingham City University Open Access Repository
Not a member yet
8823 research outputs found
Sort by
What do athlete's really think? Athlete perceptions and attitudes towards athlete monitoring in professional soccer
No full textOver the past 20 years, monitoring in soccer has become increasingly popular for managing training loads, preventing injuries, and optimizing performance. However, implementing sophisticated systems demands substantial investment in equipment, staff training, and athlete time. The present study aimed to evaluate player's perceptions around a comprehensive athlete monitoring programme used within a professional English men's soccer team. A mixed-methods sequential explanatory design was employed across two phases. In Phase one, 20 professional male soccer players completed a ‘Modified Athlete Attitudes and Beliefs Questionnaire’. The results from Phase 1 informed Phase 2, where a subset of participants (n = 10) engaged in semi-structured interviews to gain deeper insights into their attitudes and perceptions of athlete monitoring. Analysis revealed that GPS monitoring was the most favoured tool, while power monitoring (countermovement jump; CMJ) was the least preferred. Thematic analysis of interview data identified an overall theme of importance, broken down into four key themes: education, feedback, adjustment period, and specific monitoring tools. To enhance athlete engagement, practitioners should emphasize the relevance of each monitoring strategy to the athletes’ performance. Streamlining monitoring strategies and providing more comprehensive feedback can foster greater athlete buy-in and adherence to monitoring programmes
Haptic Feedback to Overcome Barriers for Visually Impaired Users in Digital Audio Workstations
No full textAccessibility barriers associated with Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) for users who are Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI) are well established. However, there has been a lack of research that examines how musical hardware devices are used as assistive tools and their role in improving DAW workflows. Nineteen participants from the BVI community were interviewed to detail their workflows, highlighting methods, benefits, and challenges of integrating musical hardware devices within their DAW. Results found that sixteen participants are using at least one hardware device (e.g., Komplete Kontrol) in their workflows as an accessibility tool for DAW features (e.g., FX parameters). Participants’ choice of hardware devices was influenced by multiple factors, such as technical specification, accessibility features, usability, and cost. Finally, we highlight suggestions for future research and development areas with a particular emphasis on proposing ways of implementing vibrotactile feedback that will enhance DAWs’ accessibility
What are the lived career experiences of senior operating department practitioners? An interpretative phenomenological analysis
No full textOperating department practitioners are registered health care practitioners who provide specialist care to patients across the perioperative environment in the disciplines of anaesthetics, surgery and post-anaesthetic care. There is a significant knowledge gap that surrounds the profession in terms of their career experiences. Using a methodology of interpretative phenomenological analysis, the lived career experiences of six senior operating department practitioners were investigated. Seven themes were identified across the experiences of participants addressing a wide range of topics including issues such as professional development, relationships with other health care professionals, sexual safety, student experiences and visibility. Recommendations based on this study include further investigation of operating department practitioner experiences across a wider demographic, an immediate review of how job adverts are constructed to be more inclusive and a call for increased professional visibility of operating department practitioners. Long-term recommendations include a resolution around the use of Patient Group Directives, workplace culture reviews and a review of theatre-attire appropriateness in relation to sexual safety in the perioperative environment
Custodian entrepreneurship: an examination of entrepreneurial activities in English country houses
No full textEnglish country houses are unique institutions that form an essential fabric in the country’s landscape. They highlight British history and are a significant element in the country heritage sector. The literature on country houses has examined various facets of them but there is a scarcity of literature about the type of entrepreneurial activities that are being undertaken at the houses. By examining 68 English country houses, this paper explores their entrepreneurial activities and determines that they can be organized according to physical areas, products and services, users, stakeholders and tactics. A typology depicting the entrepreneurial activities of these houses has been developed. This study makes an original contribution to both theory and practice by introducing the innovative concept of “custodian entrepreneurship” and opening discussion about entrepreneurship in this distinctive part of the UK’s heritage sector
Utilization and impact of telemedicine among individuals in Egypt: a systematic review
No full textBackground: Telemedicine in Egypt has shown sustainability while opening a way for more engagement in healthcare. This systematic review examines the use of telemedicine and its impact on Egyptians, focusing on the limited internet accessibility in Egypt.
Methods: An exhaustive search was conducted in the PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and EMBASE databases, specifically in the years 2015–2024, to obtain valid articles. Studies were investigated within the framework of pre-designed inclusion criteria, which helped in the identification of 10 articles specific to the report. The JBI checklist was explored to improve the performance of these studies, and narrative synthesis was employed to compile the findings in textual form.
Results: The analysis identified five main themes: telemedicine knowledge and attitudes, usage by the public and healthcare practitioners, implementation barriers, impact on patient care, and community led monitoring. Despite the Egyptian community having positive attitudes towards telemedicine, barriers such as technology limitations, data privacy concerns, and reliance on physical wards for diagnosis remain. Private hospitals are more equipped than government facilities, affecting implementation. While challenges exist, telemedicine has the potential to improve patient care by increasing convenience and reducing wait times.
Conclusion: Telemedicine can enhance healthcare in Egypt by improving access and patient outcomes. However, success depends on overcoming obstacles such as policy development and institutional capacity. Policymakers must create governance standards, invest in infrastructure, and improve training
Fighting Against Many Walls: The Help-Seeking Experience of Supporters of Older Abuse Victims
No full textBackground
Elder abuse (EA) often remains hidden, and many victims do not interact with formal systems. Concerned persons (CPs) are family, friends, and neighbours who play an essential role in supporting EA victims.
Objective
The aim of this study was to understand CPs’ role and help-seeking experiences.
Methods
Nineteen self-identified CPs shared their experience of being involved in an EA case via an interview and/or survey, with responses analysed qualitatively.
Findings
CPs were primarily the victims’ female relatives, often related to the perpetrator, and had sought help from a wide range of formal and informal sources, facing many barriers in protecting victims from harm. Challenges commonly related to formal services and EA perpetrators. Through knowing about the abuse and/or seeking help, participants experienced negative impacts, particularly psychological ones.
Discussion
Findings suggest that CPs can play a key role in supporting EA victims but require further support and recognition from services to fulfil this role
University students’ everyday negotiations of (un)healthy practices
No full textWhile it is well documented that there is a high prevalence of potentially detrimental health-related behaviors among university students, the social circumstances in which such behaviors manifest are not so well understood. Without this understanding, the effectiveness and impact of health promotion efforts within university settings may be reduced. This paper therefore explores how the social context of university influences students’ negotiations of (un)healthy practices by drawing on data from qualitative interviews with 24 undergraduates from the United Kingdom. We show how students’ manage significant contextual changes as they move through university, balance competing interests, and encounter various social, economic, and environmental constraints when trying to engage in healthy practices during their everyday lives. The empirical findings lend support to the necessity of a “healthy settings” approach to health promotion at universities which considers the specific social context and realities of human behaviors as they relate to health. To that end, implications for health-promoting initiatives that are sensitive to both the university context and to students’ lives are discussed, and suggestions are given for embedding health promotion into university structures and organizations to create environments that best enable healthy lifestyles
Assessing the Efficiency of Integrating BIM and Blockchain to Improve Information Management for Mars Buildings: A SWOT-AHP Analysis
No full textThis research investigates integrating Building Information Modeling (BIM) and blockchain technology to enhance building information’s security, reliability, and accuracy in Martian environments. Given the unique challenges posed by extraterrestrial construction, this study evaluates the feasibility of this hybrid approach through a structured SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis. Expert inputs were collected through a comprehensive questionnaire identifying nine strengths, eight weaknesses, eight opportunities, and six threats to implementing BIM and blockchain technology in space projects. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to prioritize these factors. Findings indicate that the strengths are cost calculation and budgeting (26.21), and the weaknesses are technology complexity (25.488). Increased productivity (19.16) is the most important criterion at the opportunity point, and defects in data security (20.68) are the most important at the threat point. The SWOT analysis places BIM and blockchain integration in a conservative strategy quadrant, indicating that the technology holds significant promise but requires further development and refinement. Ultimately, this research contributes to the growing knowledge about extraterrestrial construction technologies and provides a foundation for developing flexible and autonomous building systems for Martian habitats
The reliability and construct validity of the functional threshold power test in trained cyclists
No full textThe functional threshold power (FTP) 20-min test (FTP20) is popular amongst cyclists and coaches due to the theory it can predict the power output that can be sustained for 60-mins. However, little is known in terms of the reliability and validity of this construct, therefore the aim of this study was to assess the reliability of the FTP20 test and the construct validity of this test to predict 60-min power. Twenty-two male trained cyclists (age = 32 ± 10 years, body mass (BM) = 77.2 ± 6.8 kg, maximal oxygen uptake (V̇O2max) = 59.4 ± 5.6 ml.kg-1.min-1 BM) completed five trials consisting of a V̇O2max test, a familiarisation trial of the FTP20, two experimental FTP20 tests, and a time to volitional exhaustion (TLIM) at 95% FTP20. The repeatability for mean power output (MPO) during the FTP20 was excellent (r = 0.94, CI 0.82, 0.98, p<0.001). Mean TLIM (at 95% FTP20) was 42 ± 17-min, with six participants within 10-min of the 60-min suggested threshold. These results suggest that the FTP20 is reliable, however it does not predict 60-min power with a high level of validity. Future research should explore adapting the calculation of FTP whereby the intensity may be lowered (i.e., 80-90% MPO of FTP20), particularly as most participants’ TLIM was far below the suggested 60-min time frame
