Maria Brann

Male Athletes, Female Aesthetics: The Continued Ambivalence Toward Female Athletes in ESPN’s The Body Issue

Previous studies have suggested that media reify frames that subtly enforce sex differences in a manner that detracts from women athletes’ athleticism. This phenomenon is referred to as ambivalence. To analyze ambivalence, this study introduces a theoretically and empirically supported coding scheme that was used to conduct a quantitative frame analysis of 157 images featured in ESPN’s The Body Issue. These images were coded for frames that de-emphasize athleticism, sexualize athletes, or deny a sporting context. Results suggest that athlete sex is associated with de-emphasized athleticism and sexualized frames, and sport gender is associated with context frames. Results also support longitudinal trends in The Body Issue series, which suggest that the series has become more sexualized and removed from a sports context but has decreased the use of frames that de-emphasize athleticism. In general, The Body Issue continues to reinforce established media trends that trivialize female athletes, despite claimin...

Putting Coach Confirmation Research into Practice: How to Confirm Youth and High School Athletes and Coach More Effectively

This article focuses on how coaches can utilize a prosocial coaching behavior referred to as confirmation to promote positive experiences and development for youth and high school athletes. Confirmation centers on making athletes feel recognized, valued, supported and connected to others — all of which are goals of modern prosocial coaching movements. In an effort to accomplish these goals, this article presents six specific strategies that coaches can enact to make their athletes feel confirmed.

Nursing student evaluation of NIOSH workplace violence prevention for nurses online course

INTRODUCTION As primary targets of workplace violence in health care settings, nurses may suffer negative physical and psychological consequences. NIOSH created an online course to educate nurses about violence prevention techniques. METHOD A mixed-methods approach assessed workplace violence awareness and knowledge among nursing students. A pre/post/post-test survey and focus group discussions evaluated participant awareness and knowledge, assessed course design, and solicited recommendations for increasing participation and strategies for improving message retention. RESULTS The mean awareness scores differed significantly between pre-course and both post-course time points (Wilks λ=0.319, F(2, 46)=49.01, p<0.001). Post hoc tests using the Bonferroni correction revealed that course participation increased awareness of workplace violence from pre-course scores (M=0.75, SD=0.438) to immediate post-course (M=2.13, SD=0.789) and four-week post-course (M=1.96, SD=0.771) scores on a 3-item measure. Similarly, mean knowledge scores increased between pre-course and both post-course time points (Wilks λ=0.495, F(1.57, 73.66)=37.26, p<0.001). Post hoc tests using the Bonferroni correction revealed that course participation increased knowledge of workplace violence from pre-course scores (M=6.65, SD=1.45) to immediate post-course (M=8.56, SD=1.32) and four-week post-course (M=8.19, SD=1.42) scores on a 10-item measure. Qualitative data from the focus groups reinforced the quantitative findings. Participants citing benefits from the content strongly recommended including the course in nursing curriculums. Incorporating the course early in the nursing educational experience will better prepare students to deal with workplace violence when they enter health care professions. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate that NIOSH and its partners created an effective online workplace violence awareness and prevention course. Practical applications: Nursing students and professionals can be effectively educated about workplace violence using an online format.

Quantifying Coach Confirmation The Development and Preliminary Validation of the Coach Confirmation Instrument

The lack of appropriate measurement to assess athlete-coach interaction and athletes’ psychological states has historically plagued sport studies research (i.e., an encompassing term for sport psychology, management, sociology, and communication) and may partially explain the lack of empirical research regarding athlete-coach interaction within the emerging field of sport communication. Without valid and reliable tools to assess athlete-coach interactions, understanding the antecedents and outcomes of these relationships, which is a central aim of sport communication research, cannot be accomplished. This article develops and demonstrates validity for a measure of the coach confirmation instrument (CCI) via two studies. In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis and parallel analysis produced a 15-item, two-factor measure (challenge and acceptance). In Study 2, a confirmatory factor analysis confirmed this two-factor structure had an acceptable-to-good fit using a variety of fit indices. Additionally, preliminary degrees of validity for the CCI were demonstrated through Pearson correlations with athletes’ feeling of being confirmed, coach satisfaction, and perceptions of coach verbal aggression. Collectively, these studies indicate the CCI is a structurally stable measure, which demonstrates good reliability and initial degrees of face, concurrent, convergent, discriminant, and content validity.

“Challenge Me!”: Using Confirmation Theory to Understand Coach Confirmation as an Effective Coaching Behavior

Confirmation theory is a theoretical framework that forwards that the communication of acceptance and challenge to recipients promotes prosocial environments that foster positive affect, attitudes, and behaviors. This study utilized confirmation theory to better understand the influence of coaches’ use of confirmation on athletes’ satisfaction and motivation to play their sport. Data collected from 132 former high school athletes indicated that the challenge dimension of coach confirmation uniquely and strongly predicts athletes’ satisfaction with their sport experiences, satisfaction with their communication with head coaches, and their motivation to play. These findings emphasize sport as a unique context of confirmation in which athletes prioritize their development and constructive criticism and demonstrate that confirmation is an effective coaching behavior that should be integrated into coaches’ everyday practices.

Intergenerational Transmission of Traditional and Contemporary Gender Ideologies via Father-Son Memorable Messages

The purpose of this study was to investigate the memorable messages (N = 198) fathers transmit to sons about “being a man.” Five dominant themes emerged from fathers’ messages: work ethic, morality, strength, family provider, and other. Overall, our results suggest that fathers’ messages promote both traditional and contemporary gender ideologies. The prevalence of the work ethic and morality themes demonstrate fathers’ role in teaching sons about integrity, commitment, and fair treatment of others. Based on our findings, we suggest future researchers explore mothers’ gendered messages, fathers’ generativity, and father-son relational quality.

Exploring societal-level privacy rules for talking about miscarriage:

Communication privacy management (CPM) theory posits that culturally specific understandings of privacy guide how people manage private information in everyday conversations. We use the context of miscarriage to demonstrate how societal-level expectations about (in)appropriate topics of talk converge with micro-level decisions about privacy rules and privacy boundary management. More specifically, we explore how people’s perceptions of broad social rules about the topic of miscarriage influence their disclosure decisions. Based on interviews with 20 couples who have experienced pregnancy loss, we examined how couples described miscarriage as a topic that is bound by societal-level expectations about whether and how this subject should be discussed in interpersonal conversations. Participants reflected on their perceptions of societal-level privacy rules for protecting information about their miscarriage experiences and described how these rules affected their own privacy management decisions. We discuss these findings in terms of CPM’s theoretical tools for linking macro-level discourses to everyday talk.

Motivating College Students: An Exploration of Psychological Needs from a Communication Perspective

The purpose of this study was to identify the various ways that instructors communicatively fulfill college students’ basic psychological needs (i.e. autonomy, competence, relatedness) in the classroom. Participants were 119 undergraduate students who completed open-ended, self-report questionnaires. Analyses of the coded data revealed that a variety of instructor communication behaviors and practices previously identified in the effective teaching literature fulfill students’ needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. According to Deci and Ryan’s (1985) self-determination theory, the fulfillment of these needs intrinsically motivates students to learn, develops their cognitive capacities, and equips them for short-term and long-term success.