Andrea Bundon

From 'the thing to do' to 'defying the ravages of age': older women reflect on the use of lipstick.

Using data from in-depth interviews with 36 women, aged 71 to 93, this manuscript examines older womens use of lipstick. The most ubiquitously used cosmetic by the women we interviewed, lipstick was a taken-for-granted practice in the womens performance of gender. In the womens youth, the performance of gender through lipstick usage was related to rebellion and peer acceptance. In contrast, the use of lipstick in later life was related to the maintenance of an attractive and respectable appearance. We discuss our findings in light of interpretative feminist theorizing concerning beauty work, doing gender, and the presentation of self.

Honey or Vinegar? Athletes With Disabilities Discuss Strategies for Advocacy Within the Paralympic Movement

Drawing on interviews with 25 athletes with disabilities and para-sport participants (coaches, volunteers, and supporters), and on posts and comments made on a multi-authored blog discussing Paralympic sport, this article addresses how individuals advocate on behalf of disability sport. Our findings indicate that athletes and their allies adopt different styles of advocacy ranging in tone from more congenial (honey) to more confrontational (vinegar). In selecting what strategy to employ, advocates take into consideration their assessment of the perceived effectiveness of the strategy as well as the potential for backlash. We discuss our findings in light of Stake and Rosu’s definition of advocacy as a “fundamental act of human being” and within the context of the historically tumultuous relationship between disability rights advocacy and elite sport systems.

Frail older adults and patterns of exercise engagement: understanding exercise behaviours as a means of maintaining continuity of self

In this article, we draw on data from in‐depth interviews with five men and five women, aged 71–87, who had between four and 17 chronic conditions, to explore patterns of engagement in exercise amongst frail older adults. Having experienced marked declines in their health statuses over the previous two‐year period, our participants scored low on tests of functional abilities and reported profound physical changes and concomitant social losses. Despite their grave health statuses, seven were engaged in formal exercise programmes. We use Atchley’s continuity theory of ageing to discuss the three patterns of participation in exercise across the life course that emerged in our analysis, namely, lifelong participation, lifelong non‐engagement and later‐life adoption. In all three patterns, participants’ decisions to engage or not engage in exercise reflected efforts to maintain continuities of self and valued social or physical activities. We argue that rather than simply focusing on barriers and facilitators, we need to situate older adults’ decisions regarding exercise in the context of continuities of self.

Unless you go online you are on your own: blogging as a bridge in para-sport

Since its inception, the Web has been described as a liberating technology permitting individuals with disabilities to surmount barriers that otherwise prevent full societal engagement. Subsequent studies of Web-based communication have instead reported that disabling conditions are reproduced rather than challenged online. This paper uses interviews with 25 para-sport participants to provide an empirical account of how the affordances of the Web are leveraged in disability sport networks. Our findings suggest that individuals with disabilities are using blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of online communication to find information, engage in advocacy and outreach projects, and form strong networks that extend online and offline. We discuss our findings in light of Putnam’s conceptualization of bridging and bonding social capital, and describe how individuals and groups use weak ties to disseminate information and strong ties to foster a sense of belonging.

‘Keeping us from breaking’: elite athletes' access to and use of complementary and alternative medicine

This paper draws on in-depth interviews with 12 female members of Canadian national sport teams to investigate the factors that encourage and delimit their use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). We investigate how CAM treatments are promoted and subsidised within the structures of the Canadian sport system, including via the Athlete Assistance programme (monthly stipend paid to national team members). Our findings suggest that an athletes decision to try CAM is contingent on her conformity to the sport ethic, her existing health beliefs and norms pertaining to CAM usage within her sport. We propose that in order to more fully meet the needs of the athletes and maximise the potential benefits of CAM, a more reflective and critical approach to how and when these services are provided to high-performance athletes is necessary. We discuss our findings in light of Andersens Behavioural Model that describes an individuals use of health services as the result of predisposing and enabling factors as well as the need for care.

Disability Models: Explaining and Understanding Disability Sport in Different Ways

How we explain and understand disability matters. In this chapter, we examine one way of explaining and understanding disability through a models approach. Two traditional models are first critically attended to. These are the medical model and then the social model. Having problematised these models, the next two more recent models are described, that is, the social relational model and the human rights model of disability. Throughout examples of research using models from sport are noted. We close with a set of future directions for understanding disability, sport, and physical activity. The directions offered for consideration include a focus on critical disability studies, disablism, and ableism.

Struggling to stay and struggling to leave: The experiences of elite para-athletes at the end of their sport careers

OBJECTIVE: To explore the retirement experiences of elite para‐athletes. Athletic retirement has long been of interest to sport psychologists. With a few exceptions, little attention has been paid to the retirements of elite athletes with disabilities. The research that has been done on para‐sport was conducted in the late 1990s and the context of Paralympic sport has changed in the interim. DESIGN: An online survey was distributed to retired para‐athletes (n = 60) and qualitative interviews were conducted with a purposive sub‐sample (n = 13). SAMPLE: The sample included 48 Paralympians (21 had medalled at the Paralympic Games) and 12 internationally competitive para‐athletes. The group included 39 males and 21 females and was diverse in age (22–77 years of age), impairment history and impairment type (35 acquired impairments and 25 congenital impairments), and sport (24 different para‐sports). METHODS: Guided by a subjective and transactional epistemological framework, data was thematically analyzed. RESULTS: Although most para‐athletes leave sport for the same reasons as their able‐bodied peers, certain reasons for retirement, such as declassification, are unique to para‐sport. Para‐athletes facing these types of retirements had particularly difficult transition experiences and could benefit from additional support. Para‐athletes also reported that the increasing professionalization of para‐sport, combined with uncertainty about post‐sport employment opportunities for people with disabilities, made it more difficult to retire. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the experiences of retirement that are unique to para‐sport will permit sport psychologists and other practitioners to provide better and more targeted support to para‐athletes. HighlightsSome reasons for retirement are unique to para‐athletes and targeted types of support are needed.Earlier generations of Paralympic athletes struggled to stay in sport due to lack of funding.Current Paralympic athletes struggle to leave sport due to uncertainty about future employment.Para‐athletes were unprepared for the discrimination they encountered when seeking employment.

Blogging and Feminist Participatory Research Online

Undertaking participatory action research (PAR) means making a commitment to doing work that exposes how power operates in research and that seeks to redistribute power more equitably by providing participants with meaningful roles in the research process. In this chapter, I discuss how feminist scholars can use and are using blogs to advance understandings of gender in sport, leisure and physical education. I then explore how, in the blogosphere, individuals who have been excluded from other forms of political engagement may start to see themselves as political agents and cultural producers, and the role of feminist participatory research methods in supporting this process. The chapter concludes with a review of existing examples of feminist sport scholars who are using online tools and online spaces to transform their research practices and do research that is more collaborative and inclusive of diverse communities.

Elite Handcycling: A Qualitative Analysis of Recumbent Handbike Configuration for Optimal Sports Performance

Abstract Our understanding of handbike configuration is limited, yet it can be a key determinant of performance in handcycling. This study explored how 14 handcycling experts (elite handcyclists, coaches, support staff, and manufacturers) perceived aspects of recumbent handbike configuration to impact upon endurance performance via semi-structured interviews. Optimising the handbike for comfort, stability, and power production was identified as key themes. Comfort and stability were identified to be the foundations of endurance performance and were primarily influenced by the seat, backrest, headrest, and their associated padding. Power production was determined by the relationship between the athletes’ shoulder and abdomen and the trajectories of the handgrips, which were determined by the crank axis position, crank arm length, and handgrip width. Future studies should focus on quantifying the configuration of recumbent handbikes before determining the effects that crank arm length, handgrip width, and crank position have on endurance performance. Practitioner Summary: To gain a greater understanding of the impact of handbike configurations on endurance performance, the perceptions of expert handcyclists were explored qualitatively. Optimising the handbike for comfort and stability, primarily via backrest padding and power production, the position of the shoulders relative to handgrips and crank axis, were critical.