Adolescent Mental Health: Prevention and Intervention Terje Ogden & Kristine Amlund Hagen Routledge, 2013, PB, 224pp, £22.22 978-0415689175



Adolescent mental health is emerging as an important discipline within many professional fields, not least within general practice and the launch of youth mental health as an RCGP clinical priority. Improving our understanding of why some young people end up experiencing poor mental health, abusing substances, and getting involved in behaviour which causes them and society misery is increasingly important as we recognise the value of early intervention in those aged 10–24 years.

This …

Youth at Risk.

COVID-19 continues to represent the single biggest challenge to contemporary community sport globally. Compliance with social distancing policies, strict return-to-play protocols, and COVID-19 specific training has, perhaps, forever changed the way that children and young people engage in organised sport. Within this context, and while many children and families seek to re-engage with community sport, we (researchers and sport practitioners) have an obligation to ask questions about how the pandemic has impacted youth sport, understand the short- and long-term consequences, and explore what (if any) opportunities can be seized to assist and improve future participation and retention. The aim of this paper was to present an in-depth exploration of the impact of COVID-19 on youth sport in South Australia. Within an interpretive descriptive methodology, this qualitative investigation draws on rich, individual interview and focus group data with 39 youth (ages 15–18), parents, coaches, and sport administrators. A reflexive thematic analysis was undertaken, leading to the development of four substantive themes. We conceptualised the ‘4 Rs’ to advance theoretical understandings about the pandemic’s impact on youth sport, including the themes ‘recognising struggle’, ‘reconnection’, ‘re-engaging after restrictions, and ‘reimagining sport’. The themes captured insights about a decline in mental wellbeing and physical activity, an increase in family connectedness, the challenge for sports to attract volunteers and participants back into sport, and the opportunities to reset values and philosophies underpinning the provision of youth sport. The findings provide valuable insight into the youth sport setting as a result of the global pandemic and suggest that families, sporting clubs and sporting organisations require additional resources and tools (for example, support for parents to facilitate their children’s training at home during lockdown) to aid recovery efforts and to ensure the survival and prosperity of youth sport into the future.

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Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on youth sport in Australia and consequences for future participation and retention.

This study examines the nature and impact of sexist and homophobic discrimination experienced by lesbians, gays and bisexuals (LGB) in Australian sporting settings. A mixed methods online survey was utilized to collate participant experiences. The findings suggest that, in sport, participants experienced sexism directly and systemically, and homophobia explicitly and implicitly. Women experienced sexism and homophobia, whilst men reported more homophobic events. The most mentioned impacts of discrimination were negative emotions such as sadness, anger, distress and shame, followed by negative engagement with sport such as disliking sport, or avoiding or leaving sport. The well-recognized benefits of sport such as physical and mental well-being, social connections, enjoyment, positive identity and achievement may be more difficult to realize within this context of significant social stress. © 2016 Australia and New Zealand Association of Leisure Studies

The impacts of discriminatory experiences on lesbian, gay and bisexual people in sport

Women in sport.

Reviewing evidence of LGBTQ+ discrimination and exclusion in sport

Increasing girls’ participation in organised sport in Australia represents an elusive challenge for most sporting codes. Girls encounter a range of barriers and obstacles that serve to discourage i...

Parents, girls’ and Australian football: a constructivist grounded theory for attracting and retaining participation

In Australian culture, males dominate sports such as football, cricket and Australian Rules Football. Girls and women in such sports are frequently required to negotiate persistent gender construct...

More opportunities, same challenges: adolescent girls in sports that are traditionally constructed as masculine

Work Integrated Learning (WIL) offers students the opportunity to explore and expand on theoretical concepts encountered throughout their academic studies in an applied real-life context. WIL also assists students in their transition from educational to professional practice informed by experience, engagement and reflection. Traditionally, disciplines such as Medicine, Nursing, Education, and Law have incorporated WIL into their programs. Literature outlines the benefits of a WIL placement to measure learned competencies, which are integral to such fields of practice. Currently, the scope for a WIL experience is expanding into other non-clinical courses due to increasing pressure for universities to produce “work ready” graduates. However, in generalist degrees such as Health Sciences, where clinical or explicit skill competencies are not required, the WIL experience is generic. This study sought the perceptions of past Health Sciences students’ WIL experiences in order to develop appropriate resources for future students.

Work Integrated Learning: What do the students want? A qualitative study of Health Sciences students’ experiences of a non-competency based placement

Participation in physical activity and sport is on the decline and there is a poor understanding of the psychosocial factors that contribute to people’s reluctance to participate. We examined whether there were relationships between factors such as weight stigma, weight bias internalization, appearance evaluation, and fears of negative appearance evaluations, and enjoyment and avoidance of physical activity and sport. Undergraduate students (N = 579) completed a survey assessing demographics, and the variables described above. In hierarchal multivariate regression models, weight stigma (β = −0.16, p < 0.001), appearance evaluation (β = 0.19, p = 0.001), and weight bias internalization (β = −0.19, p = 0.003) were associated with lower enjoyment of physical activity and sport. Weight stigma (β = 0.46, p = 0.001), weight bias internalization (β = 0.42, p = 0.001), and fear of negative appearance evaluations (β = 0.16, p = 0.000) were also significantly associated with the tendency to avoid physical activity and sport. Serial mediation analysis showed the relationship between weight stigma and enjoyment of physical activity and sport was through appearance evaluation and weight bias internalization (indirect effect = −0.007, SE = 0.002, 95% CI = −0.01, −0.02). Similarly, the relationship between weight stigma and avoidance of physical activity and sport was through weight bias internalization and fear of negative appearance evaluations (indirect effect = 0.11, SE = 0.03, 95% CI = 0.05, 0.16). These results suggest that weight stigma and concerns about one’s physical appearance influence people’s enjoyment and reasoning for avoiding physical activity and sport. Research is needed to identify ways to reduce body-related stigma and increase enjoyment and participation in physical activity and sport.

Nadia Bevan

Papers

Reviewing evidence of LGBTQ+ discrimination and exclusion in sport

Parents, girls’ and Australian football: a constructivist grounded theory for attracting and retaining participation

More opportunities, same challenges: adolescent girls in sports that are traditionally constructed as masculine

Work Integrated Learning: What do the students want? A qualitative study of Health Sciences students’ experiences of a non-competency based placement

The relationship between weight stigma, physical appearance concerns, and enjoyment and tendency to avoid physical activity and sport