Mette Krogh Christensen

Sport or school? Dreams and dilemmas for talented young Danish football players:

Today’s young semi-professional football players are expected to continue their education while honing their talents as footballers. This means they must balance the contradictory demands that come from their education establishments and their football clubs. The present study explores how young Danish male football talents experience and describe these different forces in their life space (Lewin, 1951). Data for the study are gathered using a narrative and qualitative approach, including four focus group interviews with 25 footballers aged 15—19, followed by individual qualitative interviews with eight of the footballers. The elite football culture has an almost magnetic attraction for the young footballers in the study. Even if the espoused value (Schein, 1990) of a good set of academic qualifications does not entirely measure up to this, the insistence from the outside world on the importance of completing one’s education is manifest and associated with significant personal concerns, lower examinations results, stress, drop-out and mental breakdown. Le sport ou l’école? Rêves et dilemmes des jeunes danois espoirs du football On s’attend aujourd’hui à ce que les jeunes footballeurs semi-professionnels poursuivent leurs études en parallèle de leur formation sportive de footballeur. Cela implique pour eux de concilier les exigences, souvent contradictoires, qui émanent des établissements scolaires et des clubs de football. La présente étude s’intéresse à la manière dont les jeunes hommes danois, espoirs du football, vivent et décrivent ces différents rapports de forces dans leur espace de vie (Lewin, 1951). Selon une approche qualitative et narrative, les données recueillies pour cette étude ont consisté en quatre entretiens collectifs auprès de quatre groupes de 25 footballeurs (âgés de 19 à 25 ans) suivis d’entretiens qualitatifs individuels avec huit des footballeurs. Cette étude révèle que les jeunes footballeurs donnent la priorité à leur activité sportive (le football) et que l’éducation occupe une place réduite dans leur espace de vie. Cet article renforce les doutes, aussi bien éthiques que matériels, sur la possibilité pour les espoirs du football d’élite de viser parallèlement à leur développement sportif des qualifications universitaires ; ces opportunités semblant moins importantes. ‘Deporte o Escuela’. Sueños y dilemas en jóvenes Daneses talentos en fútbol. Actualmente, los jóvenes jugadores de fútbol de nivel semi-profesional esperan continuar su educación mientras disfrutan de su talento como futbolistas. Esto significa que deben compensar (a menudo) las exigencias contradictorias que provienen de sus centros educativos y de sus clubes de fútbol. El presente estudio explora la experiencia de jóvenes daneses talentos en fútbol y describe estas diferentes exigencias y fuerzas que intervienen su espacio vital (Lewin, 1951). Los datos del estudio se obtuvieron utilizando una aproximación narrativa y cualitativa, incorporando cuatro grupos clave de entrevistas con 25 futbolistas de edades comprendidas entre los 15 y 19 años, seguido de entrevistas cualitativas individuales a 8 de los futbolistas.. El estudio indica que los jóvenes futbolistas, con frecuencia, priorizan el fútbol sobre la educación, y que el papel de la educación constituye un área marginal en el espacio vital de los jóvenes futbolistas. Este hecho plantea aspectos de carácter ético además de una evidente preocupación para el desarrollo de los talentos en el fútbol de élite, para los cuáles las calificaciones académicas y las oportunidades que éstas abren carecen de importancia. Sport oder Schule? Träume und Probleme von jungen dänischen Fußballtalenten Heutzutage wird von jungen, halb-professionellen Fußballspielern erwartet, dass sie ihre Ausbilung fortsetzen während sie ihr fußballerisches Talent entwickeln. Das bedeutet, dass sie die (oft) gegensätzlichen Anforderungen ausbalancieren müssen, die von ihren Bildungsinstitutionen einerseits und ihrem Fußballverein andererseits an sie gestellt werden. Die aktuelle Untersuchung beschäftigt sich damit, wie junge männliche dänische Fußballtalente die unterschiedlichen Handlungsfelder und Einflüsse in ihrem Lebensraum (Lewin, 1951) erleben und beschreiben. Die Daten der Studie wurden in einem narrativen und einem qualitativen Ansatz erhoben. Es wurden vier Fokus-Gruppeninterviews mit 25 Fußballspielern im Alter von 15 bis 19 Jahren durchgeführt, die durch individuelle qualitative Interviews mit acht Fußballspielern ergänzt wurden. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass junge Fußballspieler häufig den Fußball über die Ausbildung stellen und dass Bildung eine marginale Rolle im Leben eines jungen Fußballtalents spielt. Diese Ergebnisse lassen sowohl ethische als auch konkrete Bedenken hinsichtlich der Entwicklung von Talenten im Elitefußball aufkommen, da sie akademische Qualifikationen und die sich dadurch eröffnenden Möglichkeiten weniger wichtig erscheinen lassen.

Psychosocial Skills in a Youth Soccer Academy: A Holistic Ecological Perspective

Psychosocial Skills in a Youth Soccer Academy: A Holistic Ecological Perspective Objectives: The latest research in talent development show that more varied psychological and especially social and cultural circumstances play an important role in talent development. This study assumes an ecological approach to explore which psychosocial skills are important in a youth soccer academy and how psychosocial skills are practiced in this particular environment. Method: The research takes the form of a case study. Data were collected from multiple perspectives (in-depth interviews with managers, coaches and players), from multiple situations (observation of training, competitions and meetings) and from the analysis of documents. Results: The findings reveal explicit (being practiced and talked about) and implicit (indirectly practiced and talked about) psychosocial skills in the youth soccer academy and a differentiation between internal and interpersonal psychosocial skills. Conclusions: Important explicit psychosocial skills are motivation, self awareness and the ability to work hard. However, even more important for the young soccer players dealing with the transition to professional soccer seem to be implicit psychosocial skills such as managing performance and process outcomes (internal) and the ability to utilize team skills and general social skills (interpersonal). Despite the fact that the environment expects the young players to display these skills, they are only indirectly practiced. This study demonstrates the interweaving of psychosocial skills and practice in the talent development environment, and thus underlines the social construction of psychosocial skills in elite sport.

Listening to the body? How phenomenological insights can be used to explore a golfer’s experience of the physicality of her body

Based on a single case study of a Danish elite golfer, this article focuses on describing the different ways in which the golfer experiences the physicality of her body during training. The aim of the article is to explore how phenomenological insights concerning self-consciousness can be used actively in the analyses of the golfer’s descriptions to better understand how the embodied expertise is practised in her training. The descriptions of the elite golfer’s daily practice were generated using a combination of participant observations and interviews. Drawing on phenomenological insights, we suggest that the golfer’s experience of the physicality of her body can be considered in relation to three possible dimensions of self-consciousness: a pre-reflective subject-related dimension, a reflective object-directed dimension and a pre-reflective performative dimension. The pre-reflective performative dimension is to be understood as a non-objectifying dimension of subjects experience and, in the present case, appears central to how the golfer adjusts and reshapes her technical skills. The golfer exemplifies how a possible pre-reflective performative dimension reflects the overall ‘feeling’ of the moving body. From a methodological perspective, the analysis of the single case study also exemplifies how phenomenological insights might concretely influence the analysis of an actual practice and how the achieved understanding can be important to the further development of elite athletes’ expert training.

Looking at success from its opposite pole: The case of a talent development golf environment in Denmark

The holistic ecological approach highlights the central role of the environment in talent development in sport and acknowledges that some sporting environments are more successful than others in nurturing athlete development. Case studies of successful athletic talent development environments (ATDEs) in Scandinavia have suggested that successful environments are unique but also share a number of features that determine their success. The present study tests this suggestion by applying the holistic ecological approach to the study of a struggling ATDE, which is a golf team in a sport academy in Denmark with limited success in producing senior elite athletes from among its juniors. Adopting a case study design, we collected data from multiple perspectives (in-depth interviews with administrators, coaches and athletes), from multiple situations (observation of training, competitions and daily life) and from the analysis of documents. We found that the struggling environment was characterised by features that are in opposition to those of successful environments; e.g.: a lack of supportive training groups and role models; little understanding from non-sport environment; no integration of efforts among different parts of the environment; and an incoherent organisational culture. This finding provides support to the idea that the previously suggested features of successful environments do indeed capture qualities that successful environments possess and less successful ones lack (at least within a fairly similar cultural setting such as Scandinavia). The investigation of struggling ATDEs from a holistic ecological perspective provides the sport psychology practitioner with a strategy to strengthen the environment.

Evaluation of a dynamic dissolution/permeation model: Mutual influence of dissolution and barrier-flux under non-steady state conditions

Combined dissolution/permeation testing is gaining increasing attention as an in vitro tool for predictive performance ranking of enabling oral formulations. The current aim was to study how in vitro drug permeation evolves under conditions, where the donor concentration is changing (non-steady state). To this end, a model case was construed: compacts of pure crystalline hydrocortisone methanolate (HC·MeOH) of slow release rates were prepared, and their dissolution and permeation determined simultaneously in a side-by-side setup, separated by a biomimetic barrier (Permeapad®). This was compared to a corresponding setup for a suspension of micronized hydrocortisone (HC). The HC suspension showed constant dissolved HC concentration and constant flux across the barrier, representing the permeation-limited situation. For the HC·MeOH compacts, various dynamic scenarios were observed, where dissolution rate and flux influenced each other. Interestingly, for all the dynamic scenarios, the incremental flux values obtained correlated nicely with the corresponding actual donor concentrations. Furthermore, donor depletion was tested using a HC solution. The dynamic interplay between decrease in donor concentration (down to less than 10% of the initial concentration) and flux was studied. The experiences gained are discussed in terms of further developing combined dissolution/permeation setups.

Clinical Positioning Space Residents’ Clinical Experiences in the Outpatient Oncology Clinic

In this article, we present a case study of residents’ clinical experiences and communication in outpatient oncology consultations. We apply positioning theory, a dynamic alternative to role theory, to investigate how oncology residents and patients situate themselves as persons with rights and duties. Drawing from seven qualitative interviews and six days of observation, we investigate the residents’ social positioning and their conversations with patients or supervisors. Our focus is on how (a) relational shifts in authority depend on each situation and its participants; (b) storylines establish acts and positions and narratively frame what participants can expect from a medical consultation viewed as a social episode; and (c) the positioning of rights and duties can lead to misunderstandings and frustrations. We conclude that residents and patients locate themselves in outpatient conversations as participants who jointly produce and are produced by patients’ and nurses’ storylines about who should take responsibility for treatment.

Positioning health professional identity: on-campus training and work-based learning

Purpose Drawing on positioning theory, the purpose of this paper is to characterize the activities and positions of students and supervisors at workplaces and on-campus skills training sites across the higher health professional educations of medicine, sports science, and nursing. Furthermore, the study explored the impact of work-based learning (WBL) and skills training on students’ personal professional identity development. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative case study was conducted across six workplace sites and three on-campus skills training sites with 20 days of observation and 21 in-depth interviews. The data were inductively analyzed resulting in the identification of 12 characteristic narratives. This was followed by abductive analysis using Harre’s concept of positioning as the theoretical framework. Findings Across the three higher health professional educations, work-based and on-campus skills training sites were characterized by two learning spaces with distinct positions, rights, and duties. The WBL sites gave the students rich opportunities to position themselves, act independently, and behave as professionals seriously striving for mastery. On the on-campus sites, the students behaved less seriously, and were conscious of their rights to try out things, get support, and have fun. Research limitations/implications The authors recommend that future studies explore aspects of professional identity formation due to its consequences for curriculum design, including the distribution of simulated spaces and professional spaces in students’ learning environments. Originality/value This study adds to the empirical evidence and conceptual frameworks of personal and shared professional identity development in the field of skills and WBL, and it underlines the ongoing value of Harre’s positioning theory in educational research.

Residents in difficulty--just slower learners? A case-control study.

BackgroundRecent meta-analyses have found small-moderate positive associations between general performance in medical school and postgraduate medical education. In addition, a couple of studies have found an association between poor performance in medical school and disciplinary action against practicing doctors. The aim of this study was to examine if a sample of Danish residents in difficulty tended to struggle already in medical school, and to determine whether administratively observable performance indicators in medical school could predict difficulties in residency.MethodsThe study design was a cumulative incidence matched case–control study. The source population was all active specialist trainees, who were medical school graduates from Aarhus University, in 2010 to June 2013 in two Danish regions. Cases were doctors who decelerated, transferred, or dropped out of residency. Cases and controls were matched for graduation year. Medical school exam failures, grades, completion time, and academic dispensations as predictors of case status were examined with conditional logistic regression.ResultsIn total 89 cases and 343 controls were identified. The total number of medical school re-examinations and the time it took to complete medical school were significant individual predictors of subsequent difficulties (deceleration, transferral or dropout) in residency whereas average medical school grades were not.ConclusionsResidents in difficulty eventually reached similar competence levels as controls during medical school; however, they needed more exam attempts and longer time to complete their studies, and so seemed to be slower learners. A change from “fixed-length variable-outcome programmes” to “fixed-outcome variable-length programmes” has been proposed as a way of dealing with the fact that not all learners reach the same level of competence for all activities at exactly the same time. This study seems to support the logic of such an approach to these residents in difficulty.

“We're at a watershed”: The positioning of PhD nurses in clinical practice

AIM The aim of this study was to explore different perspectives on the positioning (i.e. the perceived rights and duties) of PhD nurses and how they contribute to clinical nursing practice. BACKGROUND The number of PhD nurses is growing worldwide, but we only have little knowledge of what is expected of PhD nurses and what their actual impact is in the clinic. DESIGN The findings of this article stem from a qualitative, explorative interview study. METHODS Semi-structured interviews were carried out with six PhD nurses, nine nurse colleagues and six clinical nurse leaders. Data collection took place from April - June 2016 in Central Denmark Region. Data were analysed using positioning theory. FINDINGS The PhD nurses were positioned as responsible for implementing evidence-based practice in the clinic and in nursing culture as such. Emphasis was put on the importance of PhD nurses staying close to the clinic to do practice-based research of immediate effect for patient care. CONCLUSION The study reveals several positive effects of PhD nurses in the clinic but also problematizes the many and diverse duties they are expected to carry out.

Being a surgeon or doing surgery? A qualitative study of learning in the operating room

A key concern for surgical educators is to prepare students to perform in the operating room while ensuring patient safety. Recent years have seen a renewed discussion of medical education through practice theoretical and sociomaterial lenses. These lenses are introduced to understand and prepare the learner to perform in the given context. This paper takes its point of departure from practice theory by introducing a lens through which to understand learning environments in surgery.