Glyn C. Roberts

Using sport to promote HIV/AIDS education for at-risk youths: an intervention using peer coaches in football.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of an ongoing AIDS education intervention program (EMIMA) using peers in a sport context. A secondary purpose was to determine whether a mastery‐based motivational strategy would enhance the effectiveness of the peer coaches. A quasi field experimental study was employed in which at‐risk children in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania (N=764) were recruited (average age=13.6 years) and were randomly grouped into two treatment groups and two control groups. The treatment groups were peer coaches conducting the AIDS education to the children within sport, one with mastery coaching strategies and one without. The two control groups were in‐school children, who received traditional AIDS education, and out‐of‐school children, who received no education at all. The intervention lasted for 8 weeks. The results indicated that the intervention using peers in sport was more effective in transmitting HIV prevention knowledge, cognitions and perceived behaviors than the control groups. The mastery‐based motivational strategies were effective in influencing some of the variables. Contrary to expectation, the school‐based HIV education was no more effective than the informal education obtained by the out‐of‐school children. The use of peer coaches within the EMIMA program was reliably the most effective means for HIV/AIDS education for these at‐risk children.

Organizational and media stress among professional football players: testing an achievement goal theory model.

The purpose of this study was to investigate media and coach–athlete stress experienced by professional football players and their relationship to motivational variables by testing an achievement goal theory (AGT) stress model. In order to do so, we developed scales specifically designed to assess media and coach–athlete stress. Eighty‐two elite football players (Mage=25.17 years, SD=5.19) completed a series of questionnaires. Correlations and bootstrapping were used as primary statistical analyses, supplemented by LISREL, to test the hypotheses. Results revealed that a mastery climate was directly and negatively associated with coach–athlete stress, while a performance climate was directly and positively associated with coach–athlete stress. In addition, an indirect positive path between the performance climate and media stress was revealed through ego orientation. These findings support some of the key postulates of AGT; a mastery climate reduces the perception of stress among athletes, and the converse is true for a performance climate. Coaches of elite footballers are advised to try to reduce the emphasis on performance criteria because of its stress‐reducing effects.

Organizational Stress and Coping in U.S. Professional Soccer

The present study was an exploration of organizational stressors perceived by U.S. professional soccer players, and the coping strategies they employed to manage these stressors. Eight players (four female and four male) were interviewed during pre-season training camps. Results of data analysis revealed that contracts, draft, league and team structure, coach-athlete interaction, salaries, and travel demands were the most commonly cited areas of stress. Participants used avoidance, problem-focused, and social support coping strategies to manage these organizational stressors. In conclusion, more concern should be placed on the impact that organizational stressors can have on athletic performances.

Coping with the Media at the Vancouver Winter Olympics: “We All Make a Living Out of This”

The purpose of this study was to examine the journalist-athlete relationship at a major competitive event to better understand how the media may be perceived as a source of strain and how elite athletes cope with the media demands. Ten participants were interviewed after the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. Intrusive questioning may negatively affect and influence the athletes preparation for events. The use of coping strategies to deal with the media demands and reporting becomes important. In addition, the team support personnel should employ mastery motivational strategies to keep the athlete task involved.

Coaching communication issues with elite female athletes: Two Norwegian case studies

The aim of this study was to examine the careers of two successful female elite athletes who later stagnated, and to identify possible factors that might have led to their demotivation. Individual interviews and a focus group interview were conducted. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the stories of April and Hazel raised several issues related to coaching, coach education, and the development of female athletes. Their individual profiles revealed that their perception of the lack of long‐term development was caused by coach miscommunication, having to cope with sudden fame, and injuries provoked by overtraining. The coach–athlete relationship was discussed with a focus on the inexperience of some coaches, the number of coaches the athletes had to deal with, sociolinguistic issues, and the differing criteria of success communicated. Finally, the importance of their national governing bodies to focus on knowledge transfer, the supervision of coaches, and the infrastructure to monitor athletes were discussed.

Coping with negative media content: The experiences of professional football goalkeepers

The present study explored the experiences of three football goalkeepers coping with negative media coverage. Goalkeeping is a hard position to play as you become scrutinized from all angles, and keepers are often blamed for losses by the media. The study of the media as a stressor is a relatively unexplored field. In this investigation, we chose qualitative semi-structured interviews as an explorative method. The respondents who were interviewed came from three different teams in a European Premier Division. Results revealed that the coping strategies used by the three goalkeepers may be organized into three major categories; social support, avoidance and problem-focused coping. The evaluation of the coach meant more than the game reports printed in the press. To cope with the perceived negative content in the media, the goalkeepers avoided buying, reading or watching news reports, or giving interviews on match day. With experience, the goalkeepers reported getting better in focusing on the task and the next move, and did not worry as much about the match reports. Experience seemed to be crucial for this specialist position.

The intervention process in the European Fans in Training (EuroFIT) trial: a mixed method protocol for evaluation

BackgroundEuroFIT is a gender-sensitised, health and lifestyle program targeting physical activity, sedentary time and dietary behaviours in men. The delivery of the program in football clubs, led by the clubs’ community coaches, is designed to both attract and engage men in lifestyle change through an interest in football or loyalty to the club they support. The EuroFIT program will be evaluated in a multicentre pragmatic randomised controlled trial (RCT), for which ~1000 overweight men, aged 30–65 years, will be recruited in 15 top professional football clubs in the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the UK. The process evaluation is designed to investigate how implementation within the RCT is achieved in the various football clubs and countries and the processes through which EuroFIT affects outcomes.MethodsThis mixed methods evaluation is guided by the Medical Research Council (MRC) guidance for conducting process evaluations of complex interventions. Data will be collected in the intervention arm of the EuroFIT trial through: participant questionnaires (n = 500); attendance sheets and coach logs (n = 360); observations of sessions (n = 30); coach questionnaires (n = 30); usage logs from a novel device for self-monitoring physical activity and non-sedentary behaviour (SitFIT); an app-based game to promote social support for physical activity outside program sessions (MatchFIT); interviews with coaches (n = 15); football club representatives (n = 15); and focus groups with participants (n = 30). Written standard operating procedures are used to ensure quality and consistency in data collection and analysis across the participating countries. Data will be analysed thematically within datasets and overall synthesis of findings will address the processes through which the program is implemented in various countries and clubs and through which it affects outcomes, with careful attention to the context of the football club.DiscussionThe process evaluation will provide a comprehensive account of what was necessary to implement the EuroFIT program in professional football clubs within a trial setting and how outcomes were affected by the program. This will allow us to re-appraise the program’s conceptual base, optimise the program for post-trial implementation and roll out, and offer suggestions for the development and implementation of future initiatives to promote health and wellbeing through professional sports clubs.Trial RegistrationISRCTN81935608. Registered on 16 June 2015.

HIV/AIDS education in Tanzania: The experience of at-risk children in poorer communities

This study has investigated human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) knowledge, attitudes and sexual at-risk behaviours of youths from disadvantaged communities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Participants were 800 youths aged 12–15 years within three youth subgroups in these poorer communities: those children attending school; children who were not attending school but who were still residing within their communities; and children who were street children (more than 50% of them being orphans). Participants responded to questionnaires. In general, all youths showed low levels of HIV knowledge, experience with condom use and intention to use condoms. They exhibited moderate perceived behaviour control in using condom and positive subjective norms about the use of condoms, the value of sexual abstinence and having an exclusive sexual partner. Contrary to expectations, there were no significant differences between those in-school and those out-of-school with regard to HIV knowledge, intended condom use, subjective norms about condom use and abstinence. Indeed, the in-school children were more at risk for HIV infection, in that they reported the lowest condom experience and perceived behavioural control in condom use. There were systematic gender differences, in that girls scored lower than boys on all variables. The policy of basing HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) education within the schools of Tanzania has not been as effective as desired. To be effective in “kicking AIDS out of Africa”, we need to re-evaluate the educational strategies being used.

Gender differences in HIV related psychological variables in a Tanzanian intervention using sport

Despite the encouraging reduction in new HIV infections in most parts of the world, Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 72% of all new infections worldwide in 2011 [UNAIDS (2012). World AIDS day report. Geneva: Author]. Young women are more likely to be infected than young men. However, the possibilities for doing research on development of strategies and interventions for HIV prevention are not well supported in most Sub-Saharan universities. It is therefore important that we in the developed world support our colleagues in finding ways to develop research environments: In this case, on preventive strategies for HIV in the local culture in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Sport is gaining recognition as an effective means to increase HIV/AIDS awareness and reduce vulnerability. We used an HIV/AIDS education intervention through soccer, using peer coaches, to investigate the efficacy of the intervention and in particular to examine gender differences in changes in HIV-related psychological variables of at-risk youth subgroups participating in the intervention. Participants were at-risk children within a community sport programme. Children attending local schools, and a group of street children from the same communities acted as control groups. The intervention lasted eight weeks. The intervention was successful in that both boys and girls improved their scores on the behavioural intention variables. However, gender differences at pre-test were maintained post-test in that girls continued to score lower than boys. The sport intervention was successful, but girls scored reliably lower on most of the variables under study, especially the variables involving the use of a condom.