Category Archives: Journal Paper

Dissemination, Journal Paper, OpenLearn, Publications, Research

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Following on from previous publications in the topic area, Dr Nichola Kentzer (and wider team, including S&F tutors Dr Jo Horne and Dr Mike Trott) recently published a systematic review in the International Journal of Care and Caring, exploring the barriers and facilitators to physical activity among informal carers in the international literature. Finding very little research in the area in UK based literature, the international literature offered a more in-depth perspective.

Lindsay, R. K.; Vseteckova, J., Horne, J. Smith, L., Trott, M., De Lappe, J., Soysal, P. Pizzol, D. and Kentzer, N. (2023). Barriers and facilitators to physical activity among informal carers: a systematic review of international literature. International Journal of Care and Caring, 1, pp. 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1332/239788221X16746510534114

As part of this ongoing research, Nichola has authored a further output – an Open Learn course, endorsed by Carers Trust, that educated carers on the benefits of physical activity in the caring role. The course ‘Physical activity for health and wellbeing in the caring role’ continues the work to support carers to access physical activity opportunities appropriate for their needs and has been well received by the caring population, and those who work to support them.

Congratulations to Nichola and the wider team!

Journal Paper, Publications, Research

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Dr Ben Langdown, Senior Lecturer in Sports Coaching with #TeamOUsport, recently had an Open Access paper published for a project that he and his co-author Dr Alex Ehlert ran during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

The paper, titled ‘An investigation into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic upon golfers’ strength and conditioning and golf practice’ has been published in the International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching.


The COVID-19 restrictions very quickly turned golfers’ routines on their head and forced them to adapt to different practice and training environments and ways of interacting with their strength and conditioning coach. This mixed-methods study surveyed amateur and professional golfers (n = 107), to examine the applied impact of the pandemic on their strength and conditioning, golf practice, tournament engagement, levels of stress and motivation and the impact upon diet and sleep.

The research highlighted that, although training and practice continued to some extent, there were increased levels of stress and disturbed sleep. The lack of equipment reported by over 71% of the participants led to perceptions of reduced physical gains from training during this period where maintaining ‘progressive overload’ was challenging (i.e. with a lack of weights to lift at home). Furthermore, the research highlighted that coming out of lockdown posed a potential for increased risk of injury when normal practice and training resumed. Coaches were advised to monitor workload carefully, especially in future situations similar to the stay-at-home orders (e.g. when golfers are travelling for an extended period with restricted access to training / practice facilities).

This project also involved surveying strength and conditioning coaches during the same period and Ben and Alex hope this will be published soon too.

Congratulations to Ben and his co-author Alex!

Langdown, Ben and Ehlert, Alex (2022). An investigation into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic upon golfers’ strength and conditioning and golf practice. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching (Early Access).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/17479541221140016

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Steph Doehler of #TeamOUSport has recently had a paper published which focuses on the public perception of athlete mental health. The paper titled, ‘Role Model or Quitter? Social Media’s Response to Simone Biles at Tokyo 2020’ has been published in the International Journal of Sport Communication.

The study looks at the Facebook narrative surrounding Simone Biles’ withdrawal from several gymnastics events at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Over 87,000 user comments were collected and analysed in total, with the results revealing a polarised public response. This research adds to the expanding body of literature on the framing of athlete mental health and is the first to focus on a female athlete. It reveals two notable findings: first, the public has failed to reach a consensus on athlete mental health, with many believing that athletes should be immune to the strains of competition. Second, while it was not a major theme throughout the narrative, Biles’ gender and race were presented both positively and negatively by social media users, which may not have been the case with male or White athletes.

Steph has previously presented the findings from this research at the Center for Sociocultural Sport and Olympic Research Annual Conference at California State University, Fullerton.

Congratulations to Steph!

Doehler, Steph (2022). Role Model or Quitter? Social Media’s Response to Simone Biles at Tokyo 2020. International Journal of Sport Communication (Early access).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.2022-0143

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Dr Ben Langdown of #TeamOUsport, has recently had another of his PhD chapters accepted as a journal paper. The paper, titled ‘The Influence of an 8-Week Strength and Corrective Exercise Intervention on the Overhead Deep Squat and Golf Swing Kinematics’ has been published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

It reports on an intervention study that explored the use of the Overhead Deep Squat (OHS) as a screening tool to predict loss of posture in the golf swing. With much debate in this area, results showed that, while golfers were able to achieve greater depth in the OHS following the intervention, there were no significant changes to posture during the golf swing. This suggests that either there were spurious relationships between the OHS screen and swing positions or that there is an amount of lag time required for the transfer of new ranges of movement/physiological adaptations to the movements used in the golf swing. This may also require extensive coaching or practice to incorporate these adaptations into performance. Ben has previously presented the results at The World Golf Fitness Summit and at various invited keynote presentations / workshops across Europe.

Congratulations to Ben and his co-authors!

Langdown, B.L., Bridge, M.W., Li, F-X. (2022). The Influence of an 8-Week Strength and Corrective Exercise Intervention on the Overhead Deep Squat and Golf Swing Kinematics. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, (online ahead of print). https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000004254

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Quest for Freedom!

Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies

Dr Helen Owton has published an article providing an insight into the embodied and sensorial experiences of motorcycling through a series of vignettes. Helen’s research focused on ‘bringing the body back in’ via a phenomenologically inspired approach, exploring how ‘tests of experience’ can cultivate a sensuous self by sharpening awareness of all the senses. Motorcycling requires a sharpening of senses, meticulous preparation, and swift recovery following setbacks. There may be risks attached to pursue ‘tests of experiences’, but new adventures and unique experiences can cultivate joy, fulfilment, enhance confidence and resilience, and provide an opportunity to grow and expand one’s sense of self.

To read the full article, please click here and to read Helen’s OU blog on the ‘Thrill of Motorcycling’. 

Congratulations to Helen!

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Dr Nichola Kentzer and OU colleagues Dr Jo Horne, Dr Jitka Vseteckova and Dr Joe De Lappe, have had another systematic review published examining the prevalence of physical activity among informal carers, this time with an international perspective. This follows Nichola’s previous paper examining the physical activity behaviours of informal carers in the United Kingdom. The team of colleagues from the UK, Italy and Turkey, completed the review along with a separate international review examining the barriers and facilitators to physical activity in informal carers which has just been submitted. Watch this space!

Congratulations to Nichola and her co-authors!

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Sport and Fitness AL and Staff Tutor, Steph Doehler has recently published an article in the open access journal – Sport in Society. The article, titled ‘Taking the star-spangled knee: the media framing of Colin Kaepernick’ analyses the newspaper coverage of Kaepernick’s protest and builds on the understanding of media framing towards an individual’s protest and the consequences they face.

 

To read the full article, please click here.

Congratulations to Steph!

Doehler, S. (2021). “Taking the star-spangled knee: the media framing of Colin Kaepernick”. Sport in Society, DOI: 10.1080/17430437.2021.1970138

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Dr Nichola Kentzer, along with Associate Lecturer (E235), Jo Horne, recently published an article in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health. The article was a systematic review examining UK based research on informal carers and their physical activity levels. More detail on the review can be found in this OU Sport and Fitness Blog post, written by lead author Jo.

The authors, from The Open University and Anglia Ruskin University, are currently undertaking further reviews examining international literature on the same topic.

Congratulations to Nichola, Joanne and their co-authors!

 

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One of our new postgraduate students, Lucy Moore, recently published a commentary article in the International Journal of Sports Policy and Politics.

Her article argues that there needs to be a re-orientation of approaches towards understanding policy design and implementation in high-performance sport.  Existing approaches tend to view sports organisations as though they somehow make and implement policy. This ignores the interactions and networks of interdependent people who work within, on and for governing organisations. It is these people who make and implement policy not ‘organisations’.

Consequently, there is an opportunity to propose an alternative approach. Lucy argued that drawing on the work of social theorist Norbert Elias’, and in particular his concept of figurations and associated ‘Game Models’, an alternative perspective to policy making in UK high-performance sport can be developed.

Lucy is now embarking on data collection and we look forward to seeing how her research develops in the future.

Congratulations Lucy!

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Dr Ben Langdown has worked closely with The Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) to research the sports science perceptions and practices of high-skilled golfers and future golf coaches. This paper has been accepted for publication in Journal of Sports Sciences (March 2020) and is now available ahead of print: Sports science for golf: A survey of high-skilled golfers’ “perceptions” and “practices”.

This work has been influential on The PGA’s sports science modules on the FdSc in Professional Golf, highlighting some of the common beliefs that still exist and addressing coach education in areas such as: warm-up and cool down protocols, strength and conditioning and use of sports science in applied coaching settings.

Congratulations to Ben and Jack Wells from The PGA!