A randomised controlled trial of movement quality-focused exercise versus traditional resistance exercise for improving movement quality and physical performance in trained adults

ABSTRACT

The aim of this trial was to compare an eight-week individual movement quality versus traditional resistance training intervention on movement quality and physical performance. Forty-six trained adults were randomised to a movement quality-focused training (MQ) or a traditional resistance training (TRAD) group, and performed two individualised training sessions per week, for 8 weeks. Session-RPE (sRPE) was obtained from each session. Measures of movement quality (MovementSCREEN and Functional Movement Screen (FMS)) and physical performance were performed pre- and post-intervention. All measures improved significantly in both groups (3–14.5%, p = <0.005). The between-group difference in MovementSCREEN composite score was not statistically significant (0.3, 95% CI ?3.4, 4.1, p = 0.852). However, change in FMS composite was significantly greater in MQ (1.3, 95% CI 0.8, 1.8, p < 0.001). There were no significant between-group differences in physical performance (p = 0.060–0.960). The mean sRPE was significantly lower in MQ (5.25, SD 1.2) compared to TRAD (6.6 SD 1.0, p = <0.001). Thus, although movement quality scores were not distinctly greater in the MQ group, a movement quality specific intervention caused comparable improvements in physical performance compared to traditional resistance training but at lower perceived training intensity.     

A longitudinal evaluation of a project-based learning initiative in an engineering undergraduate programme

Project-based learning (PBL) is a well-known student-centred methodology for engineering design education. The methodology claims to offer a number of educational benefits. This paper evaluates the student perceptions of the initial and second offering of a first-year design unit at Griffith University in Australia. It builds on an earlier evaluation conducted after the initial offering of the unit. It considers the implementation of the recommended changes. Evaluations of the two offerings reveal that students (in both the initial and second offering) generally enjoyed the experience, but that the second offering was found to be a significantly more enjoyable learning experience. Students in the second offering also reported a significantly better understanding of what they needed to do for the design projects and where to find the requisite information. The oral presentation aspect of the initial and second offerings received the lowest satisfaction rating. The inclusion (and delivery) of the computer-aided drawing component of the unit is seen as a positive aspect by some students, but many others comment on it negatively. The best aspects of the PBL unit and those aspects needing further improvement were similar to the findings of other investigations documented in the literature.     

Passing,Protesting, and the Arts of Resistance: Infiltrating the Ritual Space of Blood Donation

This essay critically engages challenges made against the federally mandated deferral policies which prohibit “men who have sex with other men” from donating blood. I argue that “passing” and “protest” are dialogically dependent on one another as two separate but related tactics of resistance. Drawing on interview materials from men who have both “passed” and “protested,” the essay explores the implications of this dialogical tension for understanding stranger-relationality, enacting civic identity, and disciplining queer bodies.     

What Are You Doing—

The purpose of this paper is to provoke thought and hopefully stimulate action in physical educators in relation to moral education through physical education. A brief overview of three moral education programs in public schools serves to enlighten the reader concerning the possibilities for such development. Kohlberg's cognitive-developmental approach to moral education is discussed in greater depth since the author recommends this model as the foundation for moral education programs in physical education. A review of cognitive-developmental moral research culminates in the establishment of three guiding principles related to (a) nature of moral dilemmas, (h) nature of the environment, and (c) role of the teacher. An application of Kohlbergian techniques to physical education is discussed in relation to the three guiding principles. The paper concludes with an appeal to physical educators for greater concern and involvement with this long-standing goal of physical education for moral (character) development by the implementation of programs in the gymnasium classroom and in teacher education programs with concurrent research to support such programs.     

Open Forum

Gender bias, though often implicit and unnoticed, exists in many forms and in different situations. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether gender bias exists in Lebanese language classrooms. Semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, and nonparticipant observational techniques were used for data collection. Results reveal discrepancies and similarities between participants’ responses to questionnaires, interviewees’ standpoints, and researchers’ observation reports. Results show that, though gender bias exists in Lebanese language classrooms, it is hidden and inconspicuous.     

Survival skills: the impact of change and the ERA on Australian researchers

This paper reports findings from a study that focused on the experiences of research-intensive academics in relation to the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) Framework. Interviews with academic staff at different career stages and across all academic faculties followed completion of a short survey in which respondents compared their publishing behaviour before and since implementation of the new Framework. Respondents were highly conscious that ERA had prompted a shift in publishing behaviour to meet often competing demands of individual research interests, institution, discipline and the international research community. Indeed, the study revealed academics to be positioned in contradictory ways in relation to their research and publishing, heightened by the instability of the Framework's assessment mechanisms. The experience of researchers up to, and including, the decision to abandon journal ranking provides valuable insights into the precarious and reactionary nature of academic research careers and the ability of both individuals and institutions to negotiate the rapid rate of change. These insights include tension between personal research priorities and ERA requirements, particularly in relation to writing for the most relevant audience, and concerns about the right to exercise academic freedom.     

Human affection exchange: III. discriminative parental solicitude in men's affectionate communication with their biological and nonbiological sons

Although several investigations have addressed the nature of communication in men's relationships with their sons, relatively few have focused on positive interaction patterns, such as the exchange of affection, even though affection is of considerable importance to relational maintenance and satisfaction. According to affection exchange theory, affection is such a valuable relational resource because of the contributions it makes to humans’ long‐term viability and reproductive success. As such a resource, it should, thus, be governed by adaptive motivations, among which is the motivation for parents to invest in their children in ways that maximize their long‐term evolutionary success. Using the theory of discriminative parental solicitude, we predicted differences in the amount of affection men communicate to their biological sons, adopted sons, and step‐sons. We tested our predictions in two studies involving a total of 384 males. We discuss implications of the results for explaining the superordinate evolutionary motivations governing affectionate communication.     

Use of the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms 62 (CCAPS-62) as a Repeated Measure

The purpose of this initial, exploratory study was to examine the utility of the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms-62 (CCAPS-62) as a repeated measure tool at one university counseling center. This study investigated whether clients engaged in individual counseling changed in symptomology while in treatment and when (e.g., session) changes in symptomology occurred. To answer these research questions, reliable change indexes (RCIs) were calculated for each subscale of the CCAPS-62. Results indicated that all eight of the CCAPS-62 subscales demonstrated reliable changes from initial to subsequent administrations, and that changes occurred between sessions 3 and 6 at this specific university counseling center. Findings suggest the importance of incorporating CCAPS-62 information into counseling sessions to inform treatment and assessment.     

Improving Measurement for Graduate Admissions

In this study we examined alternative item types and section configurations for improving the discriminant and convergent validity of the GRE General Test. A computer-based test of reasoning items and a generating-explanations measure was administered to a sample of 388 examinees who previously had taken the General Test. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that three dimensions of reasoning—verbal, analytical, and quantitative—and a fourth dimension of verbal fluency based on the generating-explanations task could be distinguished. Notably, generating explanations was as distinct from new variations of reasoning items as it was from verbal and quantitative reasoning. In the full sample, this differentiation was evident in relation to such external criteria as undergraduate grade point average (UGPA), self-reported accomplishments, and a measure of ideational fluency, with generating explanations relating uniquely to aesthetic and linguistic accomplishments and to ideational fluency. For the subset of participants with undergraduate majors in the humanities and social sciences, generating explanations added to the relationship with UGPA over that contributed by the General Test.