Objectives: This article introduces competencies for sports physiotherapists, developed to improve professional recognition, accountability and mobility across Europe and throughout the world. Context: The current political climate emphasises harmonisation of professional education and improvement of mobility in the European Union. This has prompted the development of competencies and standards in physiotherapy and its specialisations. The International Federation of Sports Physiotherapists, representing sports physiotherapists across the globe, acknowledged the need for greater clarity regarding their specialist professional behaviours, to enable greater public and professional recognition and to develop continuing professional learning. These growing priorities led to a European collaboration with input from internationally renowned experts to develop competencies for sports physiotherapists. Process: The description of professional behaviours is facilitated by the use of a framework that places the patient/client at the centre of the professional’s roles and behaviours. International documentation was themed by the researcher, and the content confirmed by an expert panel; themes were grouped within the framework, to form the basis for competencies, which underwent a rigorous review and revision process. Outcomes: The competencies were adopted at the General Meeting of the International Federation of Sports Physiotherapy (2004). The next phase involves the development of standards and an audit toolkit. q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Professional issues Sports physiotherapy competencies: the first step towards a common platform for specialist professional recognition

Through doping, we understand the use by athletes of substances prohibited by the antidoping agencies in order to gain a competitive advantage. Since sport plays an important role in physical and mental education and in promoting international understanding and cooperation, the widespread use of doping products and methods has consequences not only on health of the athletes, but also upon the image of sport. Thus, doping in sports is forbidden for both ethical and medical reasons. Narcotics and analgesics, anabolic steroids, hormones, selective androgen receptor modulators are among the most frequently utilized substances. Although antidoping controls are becoming more rigorous, doping and, very importantly, masking doping methods are also advancing, and these are usually one step ahead of doping detection techniques. Depending on the sport practiced and the physical attributes it requires, the athletes will look for one or more of the following benefits of doping: recovering from an injury, increasing body recovery capacity after training, increasing muscle mass and strength, decreasing fat tissue, increasing endurance. Finally, when we look once again at a doping scandal, amazed at how much animosity against those caught can exist; the question is: is it really such a disaster as presented by the media or a silent truth under our eyes, but which many of us have refused to accept?

https://apb.tbzmed.ac.ir/PDF/apb-8-529.pdf

Doping in Sports, a Never-Ending Story?

The International Standard for Education (ISE) mandates Code Signatories to plan, deliver, and evaluate anti-doping education. Performance-based evaluation of anti-doping education requires alignment between educational goals, content, and defined outcomes. Based on an existentialist teaching and learning philosophy, we aimed to develop and test an anti-doping impact evaluation tool, to assess the impact of anti-doping education on doping awareness, literacy (DAL), perceived trust, and legitimacy. We propose that the impact of anti-doping education is best captured through assessment of situation-specific (social) cognitive mediators of actions that influence athletes' choices in the context of sport-related goals. In phase one, we aimed to develop and test the Generating Research-based Assessment Data to Evidence the ImpacT of anti-doping education (GRADE IT) evaluation tool that comprised a set of social cognitive components: anti-doping knowledge, DAL, perceived trust, and legitimacy of anti-doping (organizations). In phase two we assessed whether anti-doping education impacts knowledge, the three DAL stages (functional, interactive, and critical literacy), perceived trust and legitimacy. Phase one enrolled 986 junior elite athletes, and we showed that all GRADE IT components performed well. After revision of the tool for phase two, we validated the assumption that anti-doping education impacts the likelihood that athletes will make the “right” choice (based on a new set of data from 1,255 junior elite athletes). Comprehensive education was associated with higher scores for all stages of DAL, as well as perceived trust and legitimacy. Even athletes reporting no education had positive scores for all included outcomes, supporting the assumption that most athletes wish to engage in clean sport behaviors and might need anti-doping education not to prevent them from doping, but rather to reinforce their commitment to clean sport. In conclusion, GRADE IT, which is available in 23 languages, is a suitable tool for application to young, emerging athletes to satisfy the ISE requirement for evaluating anti-doping education programs. Researchers and practitioners alike are advised to collect additional data to further validate the tool for adult athletes, and to apply it longitudinally to identify if changes in doping prevention policies have a delayed effect on DAL, perceived trust, and legitimacy.

/pdf/grade-it-a-literacy-based-assessment-tool-for-generating-c2kwsb79.pdf

GRADE IT—A Literacy-Based Assessment Tool for Generating Research-Based Assessment Data to Evidence the ImpacT of Anti-doping Education via Athletes' Capability to Make the Right Decision

There are two camps when it comes to youth in high-performance sports and whether competition is good or destructive. Despite opportunities for positive development, the demands of increasing competitive levels and related situational stressors among young athletes can be a double-edged sword. Doping is becoming increasingly popular and more readily available to the youth sports population. Improving the health of youth in competitive sport requires us to think about health and its determinants in a more sophisticated manner. We share a current initiative in Germany that reflects this broader thinking by integrating 'education for health literacy' as one strategy in youth sport settings with regard to doping prevention. Implications and emerging opportunities to take further action for doping prevention and health improvement applicable for German and global contexts are offered.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1757975916683380

Applying a health literacy lens to youth sport: a focus on doping prevention in Germany.

Studies have evaluated the effectiveness of dual career (DC) support services among student-athletes by examining scholastic performances. These studies investigated self-reported grades student-athletes or focused on career choices student-athletes made after leaving school. Most of these studies examined scholastic performances cross-sectionally among lower secondary school student-athletes or student-athletes in higher education. The present longitudinal field study in a quasi-experimental design aims to evaluate the development of scholastic performances among upper secondary school students aged 16–19 by using standardized scholastic assessments and grade points in the subject English over a course of 3–4 years. A sample of 159 students (54.4% females) at three German Elite Sport Schools (ESS) and three comprehensive schools participated in the study. The sample was split into six groups according to three criteria: (1) students’ athletic engagement, (2) school type attendance, and (3) usage of DC support services in secondary school. Repeated-measurement analyses of variance were conducted in order to evaluate the impact of the three previously mentioned criteria as well as their interaction on the development of scholastic performances. Findings indicated that the development of English performance levels differ among the six groups.

/pdf/successful-in-sports-but-worse-in-school-adolescent-student-1fec8902.pdf

Successful in Sports but Worse in School? Adolescent Student-Athletes’ Development of Scholastic Performances

Evaluation der NRW-Sportschulen: Abschlussbericht

According to social differentiation theory, professional activity of elite sports physiotherapists is characterised by potential conflict between the social logics of the medical sector and elite s...

“One aspect of the coaching business.” Function and role of sports physiotherapists from the perspective of coaches in German elite athletics

Es gibt nahezu keine Sportart, die nicht schon mit Dopingvorwurfen konfrontiert wurde. Doping wird im Kontext medialer Berichterstattung uber Spitzensport reflexartig mitgeliefert – entweder durch offentlichkeitswirksame Unterstellungen oder anhand uberfuhrter Athleten. Die Prasenz zeigt sich auch darin, dass staatliche Sendeanstalten investigativ‐journalistische Beitrage, z.B. des ARD‐Dopingexperten Hajo Seppelt, finanzieren.

Wirklichkeit und Möglichkeit professionalisierten Handelns am Beispiel der Anti‐Doping‐Beauftragten

A large number of studies have already dealt with steroid consumption in leisure and popular sports. The aim of this explorative study was to give an insight into the anabolic steroid use among male sports students in Germany. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews with n = 5 participants, all steroid-users and fellow students recruited by the third author, were conducted. Through the interviews we explored data on individual perceptions of active users with academic background and access to expertise. The interview guide is based on international findings concerning doping/steroid abuse within the framework of social differentiation theory (Alexander & Colomy, 1990; Stichweh, 2012). The study's results indicate that it is primarily the health factor that influences the planning, execution and control of steroid consumption among male sports students. Physical appearance forms a constant reason for substitution, besides the subjectively perceived pressure of physical performance inside and outside high-performance sports. However, explorative data reveal that universities’ performance requirements do not lead to steroid use.

Annika Steinmann

Papers

Evaluation der NRW-Sportschulen: Abschlussbericht

Applying a health literacy lens to youth sport: a focus on doping prevention in Germany.

“One aspect of the coaching business.” Function and role of sports physiotherapists from the perspective of coaches in German elite athletics

Wirklichkeit und Möglichkeit professionalisierten Handelns am Beispiel der Anti‐Doping‐Beauftragten

Steroid use among male sports students in Germany