This study examined the effects of the delivery of a school-tailored Empowering PE™ workshop and subsequent Professional Development Programme (PDP) using Community of Practice principles within one secondary school Physical Education (PE) department. Employing a mixed-methods longitudinal design, the research assessed PE teachers' understanding of motivation and motivational strategies, Senior Leadership Team perceptions of the PDP's impact, and pupils' motivation and engagement in PE. The intervention pulled from Achievement Goal Theory and Self-Determination Theory, adopting Duda's theoretically integrated conceptualization of empowering and disempowering motivational climates. Qualitative data from interviews, focus groups, and reflections revealed significant perceived benefits for teachers' understanding and implementation of motivational strategies, as well as perceived improvements in pupil engagement and motivation. Quantitative data (147 Year 9 pupils aged 13-14 years, M = 13.6, SD = 0.4; 81 boys, 64 girls) revealed no significant differences over time in perceptions of the motivational climate and their motivation to engage in PE. Overall, this study contributes to the growing body of evidence supporting the benefits of creating empowering environments in physical education. The findings however highlight the complexity of implementing and assessing the effects of motivational climate interventions in PE settings and underscore the importance of sustained, theory-informed professional development for teachers. Areas for future research on interventions (and testing their effectiveness) to optimize the motivation climate in PE, pupil motivation and teacher professional development are provided.

Grounded in Duda's integrated model of the motivational climate, the current study examined the hypothesized mediating role of motivation quality in the relationships between empowering and disempowering teacher-created motivational climates and indicators of quality engagement in secondary school physical education (PE). The hypothesised model was tested cross-sectionally and longitudinally in two separate samples of students. Data were collected via questionnaires measuring the motivational climate, autonomous and controlled motivation and indicators of engagement (enjoyment, concentration and boredom). Cross sectional data collected from 832 students (439 males and 386 females) while longitudinal data stemmed 299 students (166 males and 163 females). All students were from schools in Wales aged between 12 and 15 years. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypothesised model and the mediating role of autonomous and controlled motivation. The hypothesised model was supported cross-sectionally and longitudinally, indicating that empowering climates positively predicted students' autonomous motivation for PE, whereas disempowering motivational climates positively predicted controlled motivation. In turn, autonomous and controlled motivation positively and negatively predicted indictors of students' engagement in PE in the hypothesised directions. Analyses revealed relationships between empowering and disempowering climates with enjoyment, concentration and boredom were indirect via autonomous and controlled motivation. In summary, results support the role of autonomous and controlled motivation in the differential relationships between empowering and disempowering motivational climates and indicators of the quality of student engagement. The findings suggest that targeted professional learning opportunities for PE teachers are needed which facilitate more empowering climates and reducing disempowering strategies.

This qualitative study investigates coaching strategies that shape motivational climates for youth sports participation in Hong Kong, addressing gaps in non-Western contexts. Grounded in the theory of empowering coaching, the research explores how coaches' practices influence athletes' psychological well-being and engagement. Semi-structured interviews with 30 coaches across five sports (basketball, tennis, hockey, dragon boat, rugby) were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Empowering climates were characterised by showing understanding (e.g., empathy, off-pitch engagement), providing specific feedback, well-managed training (goal setting, individualised plans), blending in with players (role modelling, shared participation), and appropriate encouragement (praise, autonomy support). Conversely, disempowering climates stemmed from a hard-approach mindset (scolding, punishment), biased treatment (favouritism), dominance (one-way communication), purposeless training, and shifting responsibility (blaming athletes). Findings underscored cultural nuances, such as hierarchical norms conflicting with autonomy-supportive strategies, and highlighted differences between team and individual sport coaching approaches. Younger coaches prioritised relational trust, while part-time coaches often lacked formal training, impacting climate quality. The study emphasises the need for coach education programs in Hong Kong to integrate empowering strategies - such as fostering autonomy, task-involving goals, and social support - while mitigating disempowering behaviours. These insights contribute to global discourse on motivational climates, offering practical pathways to sustain youth sport participation amidst academic pressures and cultural challenges.

This study examines whether the pressure perceived by coaches in their clubs as well as their burnout experiences are antecedents of the perceived motivational climate (empowering and disempowering) that they create in their teams. The participants of this study were 124 grassroots soccer coaches who completed the questionnaires tapping the variables of interest. Path analysis showed that perceived pressure within the club positively predicted the coaches' burnout experiences, which in turn positively predicted their perception of creating disempowering climate and negatively predicted their perceived creation of empowering climate. Burnout mediated the relationship between the perceived club pressure and their perceived creation of empowering and disempowering climate. Minimizing the pressure exerted by the clubs, and the burnout experienced by the coaches may lead the coaches to create empowering climates in their teams.

Continuing professional development is vital for enhancing teaching quality in Physical Education, but traditional approaches often lack effectiveness. This study explores the implementation of a Community of Practice framework integrated with motivational theory to develop and evaluate a Physical Education professional development programme in a Welsh secondary school, assessing its impact, benefits, challenges, and critical considerations. This 18-month longitudinal qualitative study involved eight staff members. Data were collected through interviews, focus groups, researcher reflections, collaborative discussions, and a WhatsApp group. Deductive thematic analysis was employed. Three main themes emerged: understanding effective continuing professional development and community of practice principles, establishing and maintaining professional development opportunities incorporating community of practice, and evaluating the professional development programme’s impact. A boundary spanner (the principal investigator) played a pivotal role in bridging school and external expertise, by facilitating ongoing collaboration and knowledge exchange within the community of practice. The “boundary spanner” played a critical role in facilitating the use of WhatsApp, which enhanced engagement and sustainability. Teachers reported improved planning, increased collaboration, and enhanced understanding of motivational strategies. This study advances physical education professional development literature by demonstrating the effectiveness of integrating community of practice principles with theory-informed professional development programmes. It emphasises the importance of contextual understanding, theoretical grounding, and the ‘boundary spanner’ role. The findings underscore the need for research-informed, context-specific principles to enhance professional development programmes in PE, highlighting technology’s potential in facilitating ongoing professional development.

Purpose: Physical activity (PA) and mental health (MH) are priorities for health promotion during early adolescence. This study explored associations between intrinsic motivation for PA, exercise attitudes, PA and MH in young adolescents. Methods: Participants were 315 students (Mage = 11.41; SD = 2.09; 45.1% girls) conveniently sampled from two private British schools in Dubai. Data were collected via a survey and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results: As hypothesized, higher intrinsic motivation was directly associated with more favorable exercise attitudes, and attitudes was directly associated with increased PA. Unexpectedly, however, PA was not associated with better MH outcomes. A better fitting model was specified in which attitudes was directly associated with both PA and MH. Conclusions: Further research examining associations between exercise attitudes, PA, and MH in young adolescents is warranted.

While the coach-athlete relationship (CAR) has been central to understanding relational dynamics in sport, it does not fully capture the complexity of coaching in team environments. This study explored the existence of the coach-team relationship (CTR), aligned with broader coaching science that views coaching as a relational and context-dependent practice. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with coaches and athletes from competitive youth team sports in the USA. Reflexive thematic analysis revealed that the CTR was perceived as separate from the CAR and characterised by three core dimensions: passion, support, and commitment. These manifested positively (harmonious passion, integrated support, and attached commitment) or negatively (diminished passion, divided support, and detached commitment), shaping the overall team dynamic. The findings offer a foundation for advancing research into team-level relational processes and relevant information for applied practitioners working in team sport settings.

Goal Contents Theory (GCT) postulates that the goals people pursue not only direct their perceptions of and behaviors relevant to goal pursuit, but also hold implications for their well- and ill-being. Extending past sport work grounded in this theory, this study explored athletes’ self-generated goals and examined whether these goals were differentially aligned with goal-related processes and well- and ill-being. A total of 414 university team athletes (206 women and 208 men) completed a questionnaire at the beginning of the sport season. The results showed that intrinsic goals, assessed in an open-ended format, were more heterogeneous in terms of content, and more common among athletes than extrinsic goals. In addition, women reported more intrinsic goals and fewer extrinsic goals than men. MANCOVA revealed that athletes who pursued extrinsic goals reported significantly lower self-efficacy and greater perceptions of goal difficulty than athletes with intrinsic goals. No differences in goal motives and well- and ill-being indicators emerged. Finally, two models were tested that illustrate how goal content is related to self-efficacy for goal attainment, goal motives, and well- and ill-being. Overall, the findings were largely congruent with GCT and indicate that the quality of athletes’ goal-related processes and their well- and ill-being vary as a function of whether they are pursuing intrinsic or extrinsic goals.

Lower economic status (ES) is associated with a less adaptive experience of school and physical activity. However, empirical evidence supporting the detrimental association of lower ES on the affective and motivational experience in Physical Education (PE) remains scarce. Using a large sample (n = 10392) of adolescents from six countries (i.e., Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, England, Turkey), this cross-sectional study tested whether students’ ES was associated with the satisfaction of their basic psychological needs in PE, and in turn with motivational and affective outcomes in PE and their out-of-school physical activity intention. We further explored whether gender moderated the abovementioned relationship. Multigroup structural equation modelling showed that, in five of six countries (i.e., Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, England), a lower ES was associated with lower basic needs satisfaction (β = .10, p < .001), which in turn was associated with lower enjoyment (β = .75, p < .001), lower autonomous motivation (β = .83, p < .001), and weaker out-of-school physical activity intention (β = .36, p < .001), higher displeasure (β = -.51, p < .001), higher controlled motivation (β = -19, p < .001) and stronger amotivation in PE (β = -.28, p < .001). Exploratory analyses suggested that the relationship between lower ES and the less adaptative outcomes was amplified among girls. At the crossroad between psychology and sociology, this study provides new insights into how family lower ES and gender might interact to predict less adaptative motivational and affective experiences and outcomes in PE.

Introduction Physical frailty is associated with increased mortality and poor quality of life (QoL) before and after liver transplantation (LT). Evidence is lacking on how to tailor exercise and behavioural techniques in this patient population.Methods and analysis Home-based EXercise and motivAtional programme before and after Liver Transplantation (EXALT) is a phase 2b, open-label, two-centre randomised controlled clinical trial designed to investigate whether a remotely monitored ‘home-based exercise and theory-based motivation support programme (HBEP)’ before and after LT improves QoL in LT recipients. Adult patients awaiting a primary LT will be assessed for eligibility at two LT centres (Birmingham, Royal Free London). Participants will be randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either an HBEP while on the LT waiting list through to 24 weeks after LT (Intervention) or a patient exercise advice leaflet (Control). Using a standard method of difference in means (two-sided significance level 0.05; power 0.90) and accounting for a 35% attrition/withdrawal rate, a minimum of 133 patients will be randomised to each treatment group. The primary outcome measure will be assessed using intention-to-treat analysis of the difference in the Physical Component Score of Short form-36 version 2.0 health-related QoL questionnaire between the groups at 24 weeks post-LT.Ethics and dissemination The protocol was approved by the South Central-Hampshire A National Research Ethics Committee. Recruitment into the EXALT trial started in May 2022 and is due to end in June 2024, with 217/266 patients randomised to date. The intervention follow-up is due to finish in May 2026. The findings of this trial will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conferences and social media.Trial registration number ISRCTN13476586.

This study examined whether the perceived motivational climate was associated with students' achievement goals and intrinsic motivation, from a multilevel (i.e., individual- and school-level) perspective within the Physical Education context. The sample was composed of 9855 students aged 10-18 (M-age = 13.96 years; SDage = 1.97 years) who belong to 237 different teachers from seven European countries. We used measures for teacher's motivational climate, achievement goals, and intrinsic motivation. After testing for cross-country invariance, results from the mediated structural equation model showed that partial mediation was the most suitable solution. Predictions from the accepted model supported theoretical predictions, suggesting a strong positive mediating role of task orientation between achievement goals and intrinsic motivation, while the role of ego orientation remained more ambiguous. Our findings also highlight the relevance of students' individual experiences in shaping their perception of the emphasised motivational climate, as well as reveal an additive effect in the prediction from task orientation to intrinsic motivation due to cluster belongingness. We discuss these results with other variables that might affect students' perceptions such as teacher-student relationship and motivational contagion and encourage future research to keep studying the construction of the students' perception of the teacher's emphasised motivational climate from a multilevel perspective.

Background: Individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at a high risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). A reduced chronotropic response (CR), which produces exercise intolerance, is known to be a contributing factor to CVD and mortality. Studies have shown that patients with RA have a reduced CR. However, knowledge of CR-related factors in patients with RA is limited. This study aimed to explore CR-related factors, including CVD risk factors, inflammatory markers, and cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2PEAK). Methods: A total of 106 RA patients underwent a treadmill test, heart rate monitoring, and various assessments, including serological CVD risk factors, inflammatory markers, and VO2PEAK. Results: A total of 34% of participants demonstrated a reduced CR (≤80%). Body mass index, HOMA, hsCRP, and fibrinogen were inversely related to CR, while HDL, QUICKi, VO2PEAK, and RER exhibited a positive association. HDL and VO2PEAK emerged as independent CR-related factors in regression analysis. Conclusions: The current findings suggest that reduced CR in RA is associated with several CVD risk factors, inflammatory markers, and cardiorespiratory fitness. Future studies should investigate the effects of controlling these associated variables on CR in patients with RA.

The objectives of this study were to assess the psychometric properties of the Coach-created Empowering and Disempowering Motivational Climate Questionnaire (EDMCQ-C) by testing four different hypotheses. A procedure of translation and adaptation of the instrument between different languages and cultures was carried out. A total of 350 national level Brazilian athletes (aged between 15 and 17 years; mean = 17.0, SD = 1.7) completed the questionnaire. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling (ESEM) were performed. Consistent with previous work on the EDMCQ-C, all solutions failed to achieve suitable levels of fit for a hierarchical model represented by five climate dimensions (autonomy-supportive, controlling, task-involving, ego-involving, and socially-supportive) and two global dimensions (empowering and disempowering). The 2-ESEM solution provided a satisfactory fit for the first-order model with two global factors supported. The 2-ESEM version of the questionnaire showed adequate predictive and discriminant validity, good internal consistency, and invariance across gender. Such results suggest that the EDMCQ-C is a promising scale to assess Brazilian athletes' perception of the over-arching empowering and disempowering features of the coach-created motivational climate.

Objective This cross-sectional study explored how using age-specific and non-age-specific cut-points to assess moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) measured by GT3X accelerometers affected bouted and total volume MVPA associations with health and well-being. Methods MVPA correlations with physical function, BMI, joint pain, quality of life, anxiety and depression were tested. Steiger's z compared the strength of these correlations for each pair of cut-points. Results A total of 109 adults with hip/knee osteoarthritis [M= 63.8 years (+/- 10.58), 63.3% women] participated. Applying age-specific cut-points resulted in significantly more time classified as MVPA (76/9.5min total volume/bouted) compared to non-age-specific (38.8/7min total volume/bouted). Only total volume MVPA correlations differed significantly as a function of cut-points for self-reported function, quality of life, anxiety and depression (p <= .05). For age-specific cut-points, more time spent in MVPA was associated with a worse psychological profile. Discussion Applying age-specific cut-points for MVPA assessment in older adults with lower limb OA had implications for MVPA associations with health and well-being when total volume, but not bouted, MVPA was considered. Age-specific total volume MVPA needs further understanding regarding patterns and affective responses it comprises. Bouted MVPA is an important pattern for MVPA accrual, but probably not an applicable PA target for many patients.

ABSTRACT Using the multi‐states (MuSt) theory as a framework, the present study focused on the individual (personality) antecedents of psychobiosocial states. Psychobiosocial states comprise emotional subjective experiences and their correlates (cognitive, motivational, volitional, bodily, motor‐behavioural, operational, and communicative), that can be functional for performance (helpful) or dysfunctional (harmful). Specifically, we examined the relationships between two perfectionism dimensions (perfectionistic strivings and concerns) and functional and dysfunctional psychobiosocial states. The hypothesized mediational role of competitive appraisals was also tested. Participants ( N = 271, 138 female, 133 male, M age = 22.74 ± 7.01) completed questionnaires assessing the targeted variables. Structural equation modelling revealed that perfectionistic strivings were positive predictors of functional states directly and via challenge appraisals. On the other hand, perfectionistic concerns were positive predictors of dysfunctional states directly and via threat appraisals. Results provide support to MuSt theory and extend the literature on the antecedents of athletes’ performance‐related feeling states. Findings also provide support for the holistic conceptualization of psychobiosocial states encompassing the functionality dimension. The results highlight the importance of developing interventions aimed at helping athletes high in perfectionistic concerns evaluate situations as a challenge (and less of a threat) and increasing their perceived resources. Highlights Perfectionistic strivings positively related to functional psychobiosocial states Perfectionistic concerns positively related to dysfunctional psychobiosocial states Competitive challenge appraisals mediated the relationship between perfectionistic strivings and functional psychobiosocial states Competitive threat appraisals mediated the relationship between perfectionistic concerns and dysfunctional psychobiosocial states