The influence of game location and outcome on behaviour and mood states among professional rugby league players

In this study, we examined the relationship between home and away matches on mood. In addition, the relationships between game location, game outcome, behavioural factors, and mood were investigated among 12 professional English rugby league players competing in the Super League. Participants completed daily diaries for 27 days. The diary consisted of six analogue scales measuring mood (relaxed-tense, energetic-weary, depressed-elated, tired-alert, anxious-calm, cheerful-miserable) as well as behavioural factors and self-rated performance. There were no significant differences in self-reported mood states leading up to home or away matches except for players feeling more tired when playing away. Significant relationships between mood and behaviours (e.g. sleep and eating) and subjective performance were observed. The outcome of the match was found to influence mood, with a defeat resulting in decreased mood. Our results show that game location did not influence mood and therefore does not provide an explanation for the home advantage.     

USING FOCUS GROUPS AS AN EDUCATIONAL METHODOLOGY: DECONSTRUCTING STEREOTYPES AND SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE MISCONCEPTIONS CONCERNING AGING AND OLDER ADULTS

During the coming years the number of older adults will increase dramatically, which will require a corresponding increase in the number of social workers who have accurate knowledge of this population. This article reports the impact focus groups with older adults and with service providers who work with older adults and their families have on baccalaureate social work (BSW) students. We find that BSW students exposed to focus groups have their negative attitudes about older adults and service providers deconstructed and replaced with more positive and accurate information about older adults. When students' misconceptions about older adults are confronted, they become more interested in choosing geriatric social work as a career option.     

DEVELOPING MEDIA LITERACY SKILLS TO CHALLENGE TELEVISION'S PORTRAYAL OF OLDER WOMEN

To be old in our society is to be devalued. To be old and female is to experience double oppression. This article reports on a study that examined how television both reinforces and resists the prevailing images of older women in Western society. Two randomly selected television rerun episodes of The Golden Girls were selected to use as a trigger event with members of a graduate course in Social Work with older adults at a major southeastern university. The study found that television reflects societal discourse about aging by providing unchallenged images of older women and their lives. Given the power of television, educators and gerontologists must teach students to develop critical thinking and media literacy skills that challenge and deconstruct television's images about older women and to advocate for new programming that reflects more accurate and diverse portrayals of older women.