Personal and situational factors influencing coaches’ perceptions ofstress

Abstract

Coaching has been recognised as a demanding occupation, associated with a range of stressors. The extent to which coaches perceive stress is likely to be influenced by various personal and situational factors. The purpose of this study was to identify coaches' levels of perceived stress and examine the personal and situational factors that may influence coaches' perceptions of stress. In total, 502 coaches working with university, college, Canada Games, and/or nationally identified athletes completed this study. Coaches completed an online survey, which included questions regarding demographics, work/job-related considerations, and aspects relating to their contract. Coaches also completed the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983 Cohen, S., Kamarck, T. and Mermelstein, R. 1983. A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24: 385–396. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Overall coaches indicated slightly below average levels of perceived stress (M = 15.13 out of 40) compared with norm-values (Cohen & Janicki-Deverts, 2012 Cohen, S. and Janicki-Deverts, D. 2012. Who's stressed? Distributions of psychological stress in the United States in probability samples from 1983, 2006, and 2009. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 42: 1320–1334. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Demographic factors, job-related characteristics, and certain aspects of their contract were associated with coaches' perceptions of stress. In particular, unclear expectations, long-working hours (>40), lack of agreed evaluation criteria, higher salaries, and a lack of social support were related to higher perceptions of stress. As such, the findings of the current study indicate that a reduction in perceived stress is likely to be achieved through a multifaceted approach that addresses multiple factors associated with coaching.     

Cross-Validation of the Revised Motivation for Physical Activity Measure in Active Women

Abstract

The five different training methods used in this study consisted of various proportions of swimming and of weight training exercises. Sixty subjects were divided into five equated groups. Each group was exposed to a different treatment over a period of six weeks. Tests of swimming speed were administered at the beginning of the experiment, and at the end of each week. All five treatments resulted in significant swimming improvements, but none of the treatments were significantly more effective than the other treatments.     

Estimating Energy Expenditure With the RT3 Triaxial Accelerometer

The RT3 is a relatively new triaxial accelerometer that has replaced the TriTrac. The aim of this study was to validate the RT3 against doubly labeled water (DLW) in a free-living, mixed weight sample of adults. Total energy expenditure (TEE) was measured over a 15-day period using DLW. Activity-related energy expenditure (AEE) was estimated by subtracting resting energy expenditure and thermic effect of feeding from TEE. The RT3 triaxial accelerometer was worn over 14 consecutive days. TEE and AEE were estimated using the RT3 proprietary equation. Thirty-six adults ages 18–56 years (56% women) with an average weight of 75.9 kg (SD = 14.8) completed all measurements. Compared to DLW, the RT3 underestimated TEE by 539 kJ (4%) and AEE by 485 kJ (15%) on average. The RT3 provided a relatively accurate assessment of free-living activity-related energy expenditure at the group level and generally underestimated total and activity-related energy expenditure compared to DLW.     

Are We Who We Think We Are: Evaluating Brand Promise at a Liberal-Arts Institution

For this research we developed a series of questions for students at a small, private, not-for-profit institution in order to determine whether or not the students’ perceptions match what the institution believes itself to be as expressed in its brand promise statement. We examined whether or not the institution’s marketing and its brand help students form a perception that matches reality. Results show that incoming freshmen students, the same students at the end of the first year, and also exiting seniors perceived the institution consistently and in accordance with its brand promise. Results help to inform recruiting strategies and strategic planning.     

Liking and learning from educational television

Summary The WKAR-TV Program Analyzer,an electric rating summaration device,was used to test a inescope of a composite television program for farm men and homemakers entitledTown and Country. Additional phases of the experiment involved interviews with each group tested on the Analyzer and completion of a questionaire by each subject. The subjects consisted of 20 farm men, 20 rural homemakers and 20 urban homemakers. The WKAR-TV Program Analyzer tests included 10 subjects in each group. Testing the hypothesis that “like-dislike” ratings of a TV kinescope shown as a film correlate negatively with “I am learning” ratings, the author showed that the “liking” scale measured different attributes of the program than did the “learning” scale. Irving R. Merrill is Director of Research at TV Station WKAR-TV, Michigan State University.