1,721,145 research outputs found
Introduction
No full textIn The New Sport and Exercise Psychology Companion, we have invited the world’s
leading experts on the major aspects of sport and exercise psychology to explain
how psychologists have examined the key issues and, as the title suggests, what
they consider to be the latest thinking and newest directions in their areas of sport
or exercise psychology expertise. In this introduction, we define the field more
formally, that is, we explain what the experts consider to represent the realms of
sport and exercise psychology. Then we briefly describe the ways in which the diverging
areas of sport and exercise psychology have developed around the world
and report on their current status. Finally, we summarize the way in which this
book is structured to provide what we believe is an expert, systematic description
of sport and exercise psychology theory and practice
Personality variables and the experience of dispositional flow
No full textConference held on 15-19 August 200
Physical activity and depression in people with coronary heart disease
No full textThe purpose of this research was to examine the links between depression and physical activity in people with Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) and to investigate the effect that time since the cardiac episode has on this relationship. Seventy-eight participants (53 males and 25 females) with a mean age of 68.0 years (range 39-82 years) and who had experienced a cardiac event within the past 12
months were recruited through Western Health in Victoria. Participants were sent a questionnaire package, consisting of a demographic questionnaire (which included a question about the time since the participants’ last cardiac events), the Cardiac Depression Scale (CDS), and the leisure and home-based physical activity section of the Scottish Physical Activity Questionnaire (SPAQ). Results
showed that those participants whose last cardiac event was 1-6 months ago reported higher levels of depression (mean[CDS] = 92) than those participants whose last cardiac event was 7-12 months ago (mean[CDS] = 82, effect size[d] = 0.32). The 1-6 month participants also engaged in less physical activity (mean = 367 minutes per week) than the 7-12 month participants (mean = 548 minutes per week, effect size[d] = 0.39). There was a negative relationship between leisure and home-based physical activity and depression (1-6 months ago, r = -.33; 7-12 months ago, r = -.25). These findings accentuate the need to explore further the experiences of people with CHD and depression with respect to physical activity, and to develop interventions to decrease depression and increase physical activity in people with CHD
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Text messaging for exercise promotion in older adults from an upper-middle-income country: randomized controlled trial
No full textBackground: Mobile technology to promote exercise is effective; however, most evidence is from studies of younger groups in high-income countries. Investigating if short message service (SMS) texting can affect exercise participation in older adults from an upper-middle-income country is important considering the proliferation of mobile phones in developing regions and the increased interest of older adults in using mobile phones.Objective: The main objective was to examine the short- and long-term effects of SMS text messaging on exercise frequency in older adults. Secondary objectives were to investigate how SMS text messages impact study participants’ exercise frequency and the effects of the intervention on secondary outcomes.Methods: The Malaysian Physical Activity for Health Study (myPAtHS) was a 24-week, 2-arm, parallel randomized controlled trial conducted in urban Malaysia. Participants were recruited via health talks in resident associations and religious facilities.Older Malaysians (aged 55-70 years) who used mobile phones and did not exercise regularly were eligible to participate in the study. Participants randomly allocated to the SMS texting arm received an exercise booklet and 5 weekly SMS text messages over 12 weeks. The content of the SMS text messages was derived from effective behavior change techniques. The non-SMS texting arm participants received only the exercise booklet. Home visits were conducted to collect outcome data: (1) exercise frequency at 12 and 24 weeks, (2) secondary outcome data (exercise self-efficacy, physical activity–related energy expenditure, sitting time, body mass index, grip and leg strength) at baseline and at 12 and 24 weeks. Intention-to-treat procedures were applied for data analysis. Semistructured interviews focusing primarily on the SMS text messages and their impact on exercise frequency were conducted at weeks 12 and 24.Results: In total, 43 participants were randomized into the SMS texting arm (n=22) and the non-SMS texting arm (n=21). Study-unrelated injuries forced 4 participants to discontinue after a few weeks (they were not included in any analyses). Overall retention was 86% (37/43). After 12 weeks, SMS texting arm participants exercised significantly more than non-SMS texting arm participants (mean difference 1.21 times, bias-corrected and accelerated bootstrap [BCa] 95% CI 0.18-2.24). Interview analysis revealed that the SMS text messages positively influenced SMS texting arm participants who experienced exercise barriers. They described the SMS text messages as being encouraging, a push, and a reminder. After 24 weeks, there was no significant difference between the research arms (mean difference 0.74, BCa 95% CI –0.30 to 1.76). There were no significant effects for secondary outcomes.Conclusions: This study provides evidence that SMS text messaging is effective in promoting exercise in older adults from an upper-middle-income country. Although the effects were not maintained when SMS text messaging ceased, the results are promising and warrant more research on behavioral mobile health interventions in other regions.Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02123342; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT0212334
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