The purpose of this narrative scoping review was to explore how parents identify, express, use, understand, and manage their own and others' emotions in the context of youth sport. Mikolajczak's (2009) tripartite model of emotional intelligence (EI) was used as the conceptual lens for this review. Using Levac et al.’s (2010) framework for conducting scoping reviews, we reviewed 87 relevant sport parenting studies and conducted consultation focus groups with 10 sport parents and six former youth athletes. Qualitative data analysis techniques were used to map the findings into themes based on the dimensions of EI (i.e., identification and expression of emotions, using emotions, understanding emotions, and managing emotions). Findings indicated that parents identified and articulated their own emotions and empathized with their children in the sport context. This emotional awareness informed their emotionally supportive behaviours, such as providing encouragement and comfort. Parents' understanding of their children and sport shaped how and when they provided appropriate support in emotional situations. Parents also engaged in efforts to manage their own emotional reactions, drawing on self-awareness and knowledge of the sport environment to regulate their behaviour during competition. These findings provide insight into the specific aspects of youth sport parents' emotional competencies and can be used to inform sport parent education initiatives.

Purpose To examine caregivers' perceived importance of topics regarding pediatric obesity management (POM) and explore their expectations and preferences regarding family navigation (FN). Design and methods In this cross-sectional, mixed-methods study, caregivers of 6-to-17-year-olds with a BMI ≥ 97th percentile completed a survey to assess their perceived importance of topics regarding POM, including knowledge and skill needs regarding healthier food/drinks, physical activity/exercise, family support/behaviour, and weight management goals. A sub-set completed individual interviews to explore their expectations and preferences regarding FN for POM. From 2022 to 2024, data collection occurred at two POM clinics in Calgary and Mississauga, Canada, within a randomized controlled trial. To examine differences between caregivers' knowledge and skill needs, the paired t-test or Wilcoxon test was used. Inductive/manifest content analysis was used to analyze interview data, with convergent mixed methods used to integrate quantitative and qualitative data. Results Overall, 108 caregivers completed the survey; data analysis included interviews with 52 caregivers. Survey data showed that caregivers' knowledge needs exceeded skill needs for healthier food/drinks, physical activity/exercise, and total knowledge/skills (all p < 0.01). Caregivers attended clinic appointments seeking support to change behaviours; however, competing commitments limited their ability to attend regularly. Participants preferred to meet navigators more often than monthly, both as a family and parent only, and expected navigators to serve as facilitators and supporters to identify available community resources. Conclusions Caregivers reported that FN could support families in accessing community resources and connect them with medical and healthcare providers to promote behaviour change and improve their children's mental health. Practice implications Caregivers expect to receive support to overcome barriers that reduce access to health services for managing pediatric obesity in clinics. Interventions that include family navigators as facilitators and supporters to help families in addressing barriers can enhance pediatric obesity management engagement in clinic appointments.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a construct that could inform parent education and support initiatives. The purpose of this study was to deliver and evaluate a web-based program developed to enhance sport parents' EI, called the Sport Parent Emotions and Coping Support (SPECS) program. Using a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach, 29 Canadian ice hockey parents (23 mothers, 6 fathers) were randomized to either an experimental or control group with pre- and post-program measures of trait EI. Qualitative interviews were also conducted with 11 parents from the experimental group following their completion of the program. The results from a mixed ANOVA indicated a statistically significant group by time interaction with a medium-sized effect for trait EI (p = .027; eta p2 = .17) and intrapersonal EI (p = .027 eta p2 = .17). The qualitative results provided insights regarding parents' perceptions of the program's content and delivery and highlighted parents' "lightbulb moments" (i.e., learning about themselves and learning about their children). The integration of quantitative and qualitative findings elucidated how aspects of the program may have contributed to changes in parents' EI. Overall, this research yields theoretical and practical implications for youth sport stakeholders interested in delivering sport parent education and support initiatives.

An increasing number of Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) organizations are aiming to offer trauma-informed programming (TIP). However, there is limited understanding of the specific efforts made by SDP staff to put TIP into practice. This paper explores the implementation of TIP by staff at Free Play (FP), a non-profit SDP organization based in Edmonton, Alberta. Drawing from a two-year, Community-Based Research (CBR) project, we critically analyze the experiences of FP staff as they navigate the entanglements of the ethical imperative of delivering TIP, and a broad array of social services to youth and their families, alongside the organization's growth agenda within the competitive non-profit industrial complex shaped by the market-driven logic of neoliberalism. These contradictions set decisive limits and pressures on staff who recognize the value and importance of TIP, but who struggle with the heavy emotional labour of implementing it, especially without ongoing training and support, and while working under precarious conditions. Our analysis, in turn, provides recommendations for managers and staff of SDP organizations on how to better support TIP implementation.

Although sport psychology consultants (SPCs) have reported using movie clips in the services they provide to athletes and sport teams, little attention has been given to how such clips are used, particularly in the context of team building. This paper presents practitioner guidelines for using movie clips in the context of team building by describing an intervention that was conducted with a high-performance men's intercollegiate ice hockey team. Practical considerations (i.e., timing the intervention, selecting the movie clip, and working with the movie clip during the intervention) and research/theory-based principles (i.e., emotional tagging, providing contextual information, empathic connection, and metaphorical imagery) are discussed. Reflections on the process and potential future directions are presented.

The overall purpose of this study was to examine parents’ role in the development of character among young athletes, with a particular focus on life skills development across learning contexts (i.e., sport, family, school). Participants were 20 parents (13 mothers, 7 fathers, Mage = 46.8 years, SD = 4.6) and 24 children (14 girls, 10 boys, Mage = 14.3 years, SD = 1.3) who competed in a variety of youth sports. Each participant completed an individual semistructured interview. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and data were analyzed using thematic analysis. We identified five strategies that parents used to facilitate their children’s life skills development: reinforcing values and consistency; giving perspective and guiding; seizing teachable moments; instructing, reminding, and encouraging; and promoting independence. These findings highlight parents’ role in character development among young athletes, and show that life skills are developed and reinforced, across learning contexts.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to develop a grounded theory of how to promote personal development in high-performance sport environments. Methodology: Individual interviews were conducted with 32 members of the Canadian junior and senior national biathlon teams, including 18 athletes (9 women, 9 men, Mage = 20.8 years, SD = 2.9), 5 coaches (1 woman, 4 men), 3 technical leaders (2 women, 1 man), and 6 parents (3 mothers, 3 fathers). Follow-up interviews were conducted with five key participants. Straussian grounded theory methodology was used. Analytic techniques included open coding, constant comparison, questioning, memoing, diagramming, and theoretical integration. Results: The grounded theory is based on the core category that personal development is a continual and individualized process. Three propositions represent how to promote athletes' personal development process. Proposition 1: Athletes use realistic self-evaluation and goal setting. Proposition 2: Athletes experience different situations and reflect on their areas for personal development. Proposition 3: Athletes perceive and receive social support.Conclusion: The grounded theory portrays propositions that can be used to promote athletes' personal development in high-performance sport environments. It may inform future applied research and the delivery of sport psychology support to high-performance athletes.

INTRODUCTION:The term contribution is a key feature of approaches to positive youth development but has yet to be adequately defined. The purposes of this study were to identify properties that underlie contribution and to establish a theoretical definition of the construct. METHODS:A two-phase scoping review was conducted. The first phase involved the systematic search, selection, and analysis of studies from which six properties of contribution were identified and a preliminary theoretical definition was constructed. In the second phase expert judges rated the degree to that the proposed definition and the six properties of contribution fit with their conceptualization of the construct on a 6-point scale. RESULTS:Mean ratings for the definition and the six properties ranged from 5.05 to 5.70. Judges' ratings for the overall definition of contribution and the six properties were evaluated using Aiken's content validity coefficient (V). All V coefficients ranged in size from 0.81 to 0.94 and were statistically significant (p's < .01) indicating that the definition of contribution and the corresponding six properties fit well with experts' conceptualizations of the construct. CONCLUSION:This study provides a theoretical definition of contribution that will serve as a foundation upon which future research in the area of positive youth development can build.

Forced migration is one of the most pressing crises of our lifetime. Of the millions forced to migrate, many come to know the brutality of state-managed migration that habitually denies asylum seekers and places substantive restrictions on refugees who have been resettled. Sociologists of sport and leisure have examined the sporting experiences of refugees through an intersectional lens, foregrounding how displacement and resettlement are differently lived and negotiated across overlapping power structures and markers of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion, and legal status. Through a participatory and collective photovoice project, this article explores the experiences of an all-Afghan soccer team that played in a social, co-ed soccer league in the spring of 2022, just after they arrived in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. In photovoice narratives and subsequent interviews, team members underlined many of the barriers they faced as they navigated the formal and informal rules and dominant norms of this seemingly inclusive sports landscape. In doing so, they revealed some of the limits of official discourses of Canadian multiculturism, which rarely accommodate more significant forms of difference, and which reproduce racial and ethnic hierarchies that powerfully discipline newcomers who are encouraged to embrace their precarious status as model minorities.

The overall purpose of this study was to describe the development of a personal development intervention for high-performance sport. More specifically, the primary objective of the study was to present the results of the co-design phases of the intervention development process. The academic research team initiated the process of intervention development, informed by a grounded theory and using a logic model and the Template for Intervention Description and Replication checklist for Population Health and Policy (TIDieR-PHP). During the co-design phases of intervention development, 28 participants (15 athletes, 8 coaches, 5 technical leaders) were engaged via focus groups or individual interviews. We used qualitative description methodology and analyzed data using an abductive content analysis procedure. Participant engagement helped inform the development of the intervention logo, activity bank, delivery format, scheduling, and individualized approach. By the end of the development phase, the intervention comprised five personal development strategies: self-awareness, goal setting, reflecting, perspective-taking, and evaluating. This paper describes the development of a personal development intervention for high-performance sport. It specifically focuses on presenting the results of the co-design phases of the intervention development process. Working collaboratively with end-users and stakeholders can help researchers to develop sport psychology interventions.Taking a sport-specific approach to design interventions can help researchers develop interventions that are tailored to end-users' needs, age, and stage of development within a particular sport.

Millions of adolescents participate in sport programs annually across the globe. In this article, we will discuss key issues related to adolescent sport participation. First, demographic information, including inequalities related to sport participation, are discussed along with details on the organization of youth sport. Then, we present how adolescents in appropriate sport environments can experience a range of positive outcomes such as improved physical health, mental health, and mental health literacy. However, inappropriate environments can contribute to poor outcomes including poor physical health outcomes, mental health challenges, and dropout from sport. We conclude by suggesting ways in which parents, coaches, administrators, and peers can all play a role in helping to create appropriate sport environments for adolescents.

Flourishing is a conceptualisation of mental health that considers an individual's emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Research has indicated that coaches and student-athletes may impact each other's flourishing, but the process through which this may happen is unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate how coaches and athletes can flourish together in the sport domain. Ten student-athletes, six coaches, three former student-athletes who coached at the university level, two administrators, one athletic therapist, and one sport psychology consultant participated in individual semi-structured interviews (N total = 23). Following analytic approach, a process map was generated outlining how coaches and student-athletes can flourish together in the context of sport. The process map includes four predictions, beginning with the creation of shared goals between student-athletes and coaches. (i) Once shared goals were established, student-athletes had to learn about and engage with available resources, while coaches provided and taught about the resources to promote goal-oriented growth for student-athletes. (ii) If growth was realised, student-athletes and coaches experienced indicators of flourishing. (iii) Moving from shared goals to indicators of flourishing was facilitated by the quality of the coach-athlete relationship and other personal, relational, and environmental factors. (iv) Coaches and student-athletes who experienced indicators of flourishing would be more likely repeat this process. This process map provides a starting point for understanding how coaches and student-athletes can flourish together in sport, and may provide insight into mental health promotion in other sport domains and relationships.

The objectives of this study were to explore life skills development and learning contexts among members of the China women's national soccer teams. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 members of the China women's national soccer teams. Data were subjected to inductive and deductive analytic procedures. Data pertaining to life skills development were initially inductively analysed and then deductively matched with the Chinese adaptation of the "4Cs" of character, competence, confidence, and connection. Data pertaining to life skills learning contexts were inductively analysed and we constructed themes that revealed participants' experiences in four contexts (sport, family, school, and work). There appeared to be a particular emphasis on the sport context, whereby participants described learning life skills from teammates, coaches, meeting competitive demands, and living with the team. Family also appeared to be an important life skills learning context, whereas school and work were less prevalent. Overall, these results suggest the Chinese adaptation of the 4Cs is appropriate for use with Chinese athletes. The emphasis on the sport context may be reflective of the intense and unique training demands associated with the Chinese national team.

Background Pediatric obesity management can be successful, but some families discontinue care prematurely (i.e., attrition), limiting treatment impact. Attrition is often a consequence of barriers and constraints that limit families’ access to obesity management. Family Navigation (FN) can improve access, satisfaction with care, and treatment outcomes in diverse areas of healthcare. To help our team prepare for a future effectiveness trial, the objectives of our randomized feasibility study are to (i) explore children’s and caregivers’ acceptability of FN and (ii) examine attrition, measures of study rigor and conduct, and responses to FN + Usual Care vs Usual Care by collecting clinical, health services, and health economic data. Methods In our 2.5-year study, 108 6–17-year-olds with obesity and their caregivers will be randomized (1:1) to FN + Usual Care or Usual Care after they enroll in obesity management clinics in Calgary and Mississauga, Canada. Our Stakeholder Steering Committee and research team will use Experience-Based Co-Design to design and refine our FN intervention to reduce families’ barriers to care, maximizing the intervention dose families receive. FN will be delivered by a navigator at each site who will use logistical and relational strategies to enhance access to care, supplementing obesity management. Usual Care will be offered similarly at both clinics, adhering to expert guidelines. At enrollment, families will complete a multidisciplinary assessment, then meet regularly with a multidisciplinary team of clinicians for obesity management. Over 12 months, both FN and Usual Care will be delivered virtually and/or in-person, pandemic permitting. Data will be collected at 0, 3, 6, and 12 months post-baseline. We will explore child and caregiver perceptions of FN acceptability as well as evaluate attrition, recruitment, enrolment, randomization, and protocol integrity against pre-set success thresholds. Data on clinical, health services, and health economic outcomes will be collected using established protocols. Qualitative data analysis will apply thematic analysis; quantitative data analysis will be descriptive. Discussion Our trial will assess the feasibility of FN to address attrition in managing pediatric obesity. Study data will inform a future effectiveness trial, which will be designed to test whether FN reduces attrition. Trial registration This trial was registered prospectively at ClinicalTrials.gov (# NCT05403658 ; first posted: June 3, 2022).

The main objective of this study was to examine Portuguese and Brazilian coaches’ and researchers’ perceptions of the factors that influence the knowledge translation processes in sport. Data were collected via focus groups with 36 coaches and 25 researchers from both countries. Results of a reflexive thematic analysis were captured by the themes: knowledge creation, barriers, knowledge dissemination and knowledge implementation, and evaluation. In both contexts, there was a gap between researchers’ and coaches’ needs, which hindered the knowledge translation process. The lack of partnerships in place between these stakeholders also created difficulties in the process of knowledge translation. Moving forward, universities and polytechnic institutes should forge meaningful partnerships with coaches so they can implement evidence-based practices and use research as a tool for improving the quality of the coaching process.

The purposes of this paper were to (a) describe and assess the use of grounded theory methodology (GTM) in sport psychology over the past 11 years and (b) provide some guidance for best practices moving forward. Following a brief summary of the history of GTM, we present the results of a rapid review of seven sport psychology journals from 2009 to 2021. A total of 35 articles that made claims regarding the use of GTM as a methodology were retained. The retained articles were assessed using 11 criteria. Overall, the methodological completeness of GTM studies in sport psychology appears to have improved over the past decade. Twenty-two of the 35 articles met all, or all but one, of the criteria. Thirteen articles did not meet two or more of the criteria. In terms of areas for improvement, the least widely reported procedures were theoretical sampling (reported in 22 of 35 studies), theoretical saturation (22 of 35 studies), and assessment of theory (22 of 35 studies). Furthermore, the sophisticated positioning of theoretical sensitivity was sometimes lacking in the articles. We discuss ways in which researchers can increase the conceptual and theoretical sophistication of methodologically sound GTM studies.