Dr Sam Thrower

Young athletes have become an increasingly important client group for sport psychology practitioners and a population whose physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development should be carefully considered by a practitioner when delivering their services (Visek et al., 2009). The aim of this British Psychological Society (BPS) Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology (DSEP) position statement is to summarise existing knowledge about psychological skills training (PST) interventions and discuss optimal service provision of PST in youth sport. In the first section of this position statement, we provide a brief overview of the literature exploring PST during childhood (5-11 years), early adolescence (12-15 years), and mid-to-late adolescence (16-18 years). Within each sub-section, key developmental considerations (i.e., physical, cognitive, emotional, and social) are provided followed by short summaries of research on basic single strategy (i.e., goal setting, imagery, relaxation, and self-talk) and alternative strategy interventions (e.g., mindfulness, music, perceptual training, and self-modelling) with young athletes. In the second section, optimal service provision of PST is discussed by drawing upon practitioners’ experiences of working with young athletes, concluding with 10 recommendations for youth sport organisations, training and accrediting bodies, researchers, and practitioners.

Background: Values-based education seeks to cultivate personal responsibility, empathy and integrity to encourage critical reflection on the (anticipated or actual) consequences of one’s choices and behaviours. To comply with the World Anti-Doping Agency's International Standard for Education, anti-doping education programmes must incorporate values-based components. To facilitate this development, we explored how elite athletes interpret and apply their values in various situations throughout their athletic careers.

Methods: Adopting a Qualitative Description design, 13 focus groups were conducted with a diverse sample of 60 elite athletes from 13 countries participating in 27 sports at national or international levels. Audio recordings were transcribed/translated and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

Results: Athletes noted that their values guide their actions but struggled to articulate how these values influence their behaviour. Three overarching themes were created to capture (1) value consciousness and clarity, (2) intrapersonal value continuity, and (3) value conflict and management. Dynamic relationships between athletes' values, priorities and decision-making processes were evident. Specifically, the results revealed shifts in value priorities as athletes matured and progressed in their careers, and across situations to meet situational demands whilst making behaviour personally permissible.

Conclusion: To live up to the fundamental principles of values-based education, anti-doping programmes must incorporate activities that facilitate conceptually sound discussions and provide athletes with time and support to unpack the behavioural meaning of their values. Developing athletes’ abilities through conscious sense-making activities to anticipate the pain of a value transgression and the value of value-fulfilment is key to this process.

Keywords: clean sport, values-based education, WADA, qualitative, focus group

Interpersonal relationships between athletes and their parents and coaches is an important factor in the success of youth sport programmes. Despite growing evidence in the parent-coach stress literature, there remains a lack of research which investigates parent-coach relationships. Therefore, a three-part research series was conducted to better understand how these relationship function within the parent-athlete-coach (PAC) triad in youth tennis. Study one employed a collective case study design and utilised pre-interview tasks, semi-structured interviews and conversational threads to collect data from nine PAC triads in three developmental stages. Study two surveyed 284 tennis parents to examine how the responsiveness and quality of parent-coach relationships mediated the association between four behavioural characteristics and parents’ basic psychological needs satisfaction (BPNS) in the PAC triad. Finally, a five-phase action research study with three PAC triads was conducted to investigate how parent-coach relationships can be improved. Collectively, the findings highlighted the importance of specific parent-coach relationship qualities and behaviours within the functioning of the triad and stakeholders’ experiences in youth tennis. Recommendations for practice are provided in relation to these findings.

While important for athletic development and well-being in youth sport, knowledge remains limited around the processes underpinning triadic relationships between parents, athletes and coaches (PAC). This study aimed to examine the relational processes that drive the functioning of PAC triads across three developmental stages of youth tennis. Using a collective case study design, 10 players, 10 coaches, and nine mothers completed pre- interview tasks, semi-structured interviews, and provided conversational history. Reflexive thematic analysis led to the generation of two higher-order themes: foundations of relationship quality and factors enabling team effectiveness. Findings highlighted how specific relationship qualities (i.e., commitment, trust, respect, and parent-coach proximity) and team effectiveness constructs (i.e., shared goals, collaborative and adjusted roles, support, and role-specific communication) served to facilitate the tennis experience for triads. Scholars are encouraged to consider integrating small-group principles (e.g., team building) into tailored support programs that address the psychosocial needs of the triad.

Although applied sport psychologists are supporting young athletes drawing on experiential evidence of what works, there is a lack of understanding regarding how to effectively help young athletes enhance their wellbeing, long-term development, and performance. The aim of the current study was to gain insights into the consultancy process from accredited applied sport psychologists working with young athletes (5-18 years) in the United Kingdom, to inform the training and development of practitioners. An Interpretive Descriptive (ID) design was used to generate grounded knowledge relevant to applied practice contexts. The current study was conducted by a British Psychological Society (BPS), Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology (DSEP), research working group and consisted of two phases: First, working group members (n = 6) participated in two separate focus groups. Second, in-depth interviews were conducted with UK-based sport psychology practitioners (n = 9) who had extensive knowledge and experience of working with young athletes. Reflexive thematic analysis generated six higher order themes: (a) Clear intentions, motives, and boundaries; (b) flexible and adaptable theoretical approaches; (c) seeking and securing connections; (d) multiple perspectives matter; (e) indirect interventions maximize impact; and (f) adaptation and integration determine Psychological Skills Training (PST) effectiveness. The current study offers unique and detailed insights regarding the consultancy process when working with young athletes. Such insights are crucial for applied sport psychologists to promote evidence-informed developmentally appropriate practice.

Studies investigating competitive bodybuilding have primarily done so from a pathologizing perspective, and have often considered aspects of the competitive bodybuilding lifestyle in isolation, therefore overlooking the broader motivations underlying individuals’ engagement in the sport. The current study addressed these limitations by using a meta-ethnographic approach to review the existing competitive bodybuilding literature as a collective. Synthesis of 20 published studies relating to competitive bodybuilders’ motivations, behaviours, and experiences resulted in the construction of five third-order constructs: a journey of self-discovery and improvement, gaining a new identity, enacting control, conditional and unconditional social support, and decisional balance. Encapsulated as a ‘perfect storm’, the results offer novel conceptual understanding of how the interplay of personality traits, life experiences, and situational factors drive competitors to begin and maintain their participation in competitive bodybuilding, the social support they experience, and the role of control in competitors’ motivations, harm management, and justificatory processes. From an applied perspective, the study has implications in terms of both support provision and harm management.

The purpose of the current study was to utilize the RE-AIM (i.e., reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance) framework to evaluate the national-level scale-out of the Lawn Tennis Association’s “Optimal Competition Parenting Workshop” (OCPW) across a 4-year period. During 2018, 65 workshops were run across the United Kingdom, 1,043 parents registered, and 933 parents attended. Adopting a quasi-experimental design, multilevel analyses revealed significant increases in parents’ (n = 130) task goal orientation and competition tennis parenting efficacy, as well as significant decreases in ego goal orientation and unpleasant emotions. Children’s perceptions of both mother- and father-initiated ego-involving motivational climate and their own ego goal orientation significantly decreased across time. From 2019 to 2021, a further 64 workshops were delivered to 1,110 parents with no significant differences in parents’ satisfaction, enjoyment, instructor evaluation, or transfer intention over time when compared against workshop evaluations in 2018. Overall, the OCPW represents a well-received, practical, and effective brief intervention for enhancing parental involvement in junior tennis.

Agents, race-organisers, and sponsors have a key influence in shaping the world of elite professional distance running. Yet to date this important but hard-to-reach stakeholder group has been omitted from the global research landscape of doping and anti-doping. The purpose of this study is to address this gap in the literature and explore the systematic contributors to doping in elite long-distance running, along with potential solutions to this issue, from this influential perspective. Thirteen in-depth interviews were conducted with agents (n = 8) of world-class long-distance runners, major race organisers (n = 3), and sports marketing managers for global brands (n = 2). The interviews were conducted via the phone, audio-recorded, and transcribed verbatim. Reflexive thematic analysis generated three themes which focused on: 1) The framework of professional distance running and the contextual aspects which may contribute to doping risk, 2) the impact of various recruitment strategies on doping and anti-doping, and 3) the lessons that can be learnt from the participants’ first-hand experiences with doping cases and/or managing anti-doping requirements. Reflecting on the sector rather than the sample, the results highlighted that not all commercial stakeholders feel responsible for anti-doping. Collective responsibility from all stakeholders, which is currently borne by some and not others, is necessary to minimise doping in distance running. The challenge is how to convince all stakeholders of their share of the responsibility.

Protecting clean sport, and the rights of athletes to a clean sport environment, is at the centre of anti-doping policies. To better support and enable clean athletes and sport, an understanding of the clean athlete lifeworld is required. The current study explored the ways that clean athletes are personally affected by others’ actual or suspected instances of doping and anti-doping rule violations, and by aspects of the anti-doping system. Qualitative Secondary Analysis (QSA) was used to re-analyse and interpret 13 focus group transcripts generated from the ‘Research-Embedded Strategic Plan for Anti-Doping Education Clean Sport Alliance Initiative for Tackling Doping’ (RESPECT) project (see Petróczi et al., 2021b). The sample in the parent study included 82 self-declared clean elite athletes, from Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Slovenia, and the UK. Reflexive thematic analysis generated three overarching themes: The harm done by clean athletes having to coexist with dopers, how clean athletes are undermined by a disingenuous interest in clean sport, and the anxiety experienced by clean athletes over mistakes that could lead to anti-doping rule violations. The impacts of doping on clean athletes – direct or indirect – are experienced by all clean athletes in some way. The results indicate that current approaches to anti-doping rule compliance frequently undermine clean athletes and the perceived legitimacy of the anti-doping system.

Have you noticed how you can feel very confident in some sporting situations but in others, usually at the worst possible moment, that confidence can suddenly disappear? When athletes feel confident, they are focused on the task, feel relaxed, and commit fully to decisions—all of which help them perform well. However, when they don’t feel confident, they sometimes focus on the wrong things, doubt themselves, feel nervous, and often make poor decisions, which often results in poorer performances. In this article, we talk about a study that investigated what young elite athletes feel confident about, where they get their confidence from, and what reduces their confidence. The results help to explain why the confidence of young athletes often fluctuates and, importantly, gives us clues about how to develop and maintain sport-confidence.

Background

Patient-physician interactions involve complex interplays between patient and physician autonomy. This is intensified in stigmatised populations, such as anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) users. The current study investigated what factors influence clinical interactions between physicians and AAS users, thus providing a holistic understanding of the underlying dynamics.

Methods

For this exploratory two-cohort qualitative study, UK-based physicians (n = 6) and AAS-users (n = 6) were recruited via purposive and snowball sampling. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. These interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and inductively analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

Results

Six themes were identified for AAS-using patients (perceived bias and lack of clinical knowledge; perceived power imbalance; riskiness of disclosure; feeling misidentified; experiencing hostility and prejudice; and collaborative clinical interactions) and four for physicians (professional barriers: lack of knowledge, guidelines and resources; preconceptions and prior understandings; direct exposure influences clinical confidence; and professional role quandary). The overall picture suggests primary impactive factors involve stigma management techniques amongst AAS-using patients and coping with clinical uncertainty for physicians.

Conclusions

Blurred lines between enabling versus management impact both the AAS-using patient and the physician. Greater clarity is required regarding what constitutes appropriate management. Further discussion is warranted about the role of physician and patient autonomy. Improving access to healthcare services and expertly guided AAS cessation, if necessary, are vital for effective harm-reduction.

There remains limited research into the role that parents play to support their child’s psychosocial development within elite youth sport contexts. The present study was conducted in an English professional youth football (soccer) academy that has intentionally integrated the 5Cs framework (Harwood; commitment, communication, concentration, control, confidence) into its player development process. The purpose of the study was to explore parents’ interpretations of their roles and experiences of supporting young athletes’ psychosocial development in this context. Six focus groups were conducted with 30 parents (17 fathers, 13 mothers; Mage ¼ 44.8) who had a child in the foundation (8–11 years) or youth development phase (12–16 years). The transcripts were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Parental strategies employed to support their child’s 5Cs within and beyond the academy included providing encouragement and tailoring feedback, establishing and sharing expectations with their child, creating an autonomy-supportive environment, encouraging participation in activities outside of the academy, and understanding football and the nature of the academy. Barriers perceived as hindering parents’ support reflected the salience of coach-parent communication at the academy. Accompanying recommendations and implications are discussed for enabling improved congruency between coaches and parents, and how parent education can be better tailored to support intentional psychosocial development within elite youth sport pathways. Lay summary: Conducted at a professional football academy that has integrated a psychosocial framework into the player development process, this study explored parents’ interpretations of their roles and experiences of supporting young athletes’ psychosocial development. Parents discussed practical strategies, barriers, and recommendations to support their child’s development in and beyond sport.

Research exploring the processes and effects of parent-child social interaction in youth sport has been limited by an overreliance on retrospective questionnaire and interview-based designs. The purpose of the current study was to examine the naturally occurring parent-child interactions which unfold during the pre-competition car journey within British tennis. Specifically, the research questions focused on identifying the parental communicative practices that enabled (or limited) affiliative conversations about children’s upcoming tennis performance. Audio and video recordings were made of 13 parent-child dyads resulting in 4 h 45 min of parent-child interactions. These recordings were transcribed using the Jefferson (2004) system for capturing the production, pace, and organisation of social interaction. Conversation analysis revealed that children resisted or disengaged from the interaction when parents positioned themselves as having authority over, and entitlement to know about, the child’s upcoming performance. This positioning was achieved through giving instructions or advice about the child’s performance and through asking ‘test’ questions to which they already knew the answer. However, asking ‘wh-questions’ that enabled children to talk about their own areas to focus on, lead to extended sequences of affiliative talk. From an applied perspective, these findings highlight the importance of asking genuinely open questions that construct the child as having ownership of their tennis development and performances.

A fundamental step in describing a research field is the review and synthesis of accumulated knowledge. Multiple qualitative reviews have been conducted over the last decade to provide a summary and commentary on the growing literature in the area of youth sport parenting. However, these reviews have focused on contemporary findings in the field, largely ignoring work in the area that began in the late 1960s. In light of this underdiscussed history, there remains a need to highlight the historical foundations of the youth sport parenting literature, the transitions that shaped the trajectory of work, as well as the contemporary research that informs our current understanding. The purpose of this scoping review was to provide a historical analysis of the literature on parent involvement in organized youth sport. In conducting the analysis, we identified key concepts and trajectories that define the field’s foundational (1968–1981), transitional (1982–1998), and contemporary (1999–2020) periods. Specifically, this review not only sought to define and summarize these periods of research but also to use the synthesized knowledge to frame remaining gaps and potential future directions for the field.

Little research exists on the lived experiences of female anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) use from a harm reduction perspective. This study aims to address this gap and explore the experiences, perceptions, and perspectives of AAS-using females through their journeys of starting, using, and coming off AAS to facilitate appropriate public health policies. Four females, recruited using opportunistic purposive sampling, participated in semistructured interviews. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), four superordinate themes clarify the experiences and narratives detailed by the participants: preparation and anxiety (before using AAS); deviation from feminine identity (during AAS use); turbulence of cessation (end of AAS use); and rediscovering femininity (post-AAS cessation reflections). The results show how harm arising from AAS use is characterised by the development of virilising effects and the complex framing of their feminine identity, providing a clearer image of how harm is defined and managed by this population. While participants anticipated adverse side effects, this did not prevent negative emotions arising from their development. Our results also suggest that gender identity in this unique population is inseparable but not irreconcilable with the changing body. Illuminating this specific facet of AAS use can inform holistic, meaningful, and more inclusive harm reduction measures by adding experiential information from this unique but understudied and hard-to-reach group.

Background: Doping has been a prominent issue for the sport of athletics in recent years. The endurance disciplines, which currently account for 56% of the global anti-doping rule violations in athletics, appear to be particularly high risk for doping.

Objective: Using this high-risk, high-pressure context, the main purpose of this study was to investigate the human impact of doping and anti-doping on “clean” athletes. The secondary aim of the study was to better understand the reasons for, and barriers to, competing “clean” among this group of athletes.

Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 elite distance runners from the UK to explore: (1) the reasons and motivations for competing clean. (2) Perceptions of the anti-doping system, and experiences of being part of that system. (3) Views on the prevalence and causes of doping and the impact of doping on the lives of clean athletes. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis.

Results: Four major themes were identified: (1) The participants in this study have not been tempted to use prohibited substances or methods; they compete in their sport for the personal satisfaction of seeing how good they can be, rather than in pursuit of winning at all costs. (2) Anti-doping does not currently prevent doping effectively and is not implemented evenly across the globe. (3) Doping was perceived as a major issue and was felt to be borne out of certain sporting cultures in which doping is enabled. (4) Doping has impacted the careers of clean athletes in irreversible ways and presents a continuing challenge to the psychological preparation for competition.

Conclusions: Clean athletes suffer negative consequences from both doping and anti-doping. ADOs must collaborate across borders to ensure a more even implementation of anti-doping activities, to facilitate a more level playing field on the global stage. ADOs must also acknowledge the existence of a large group of athletes who would never consider deliberately doping and make anti-doping work for these athletes too.

Background

In sport the narrative is changing from anti-doping to pro-clean sport. Yet, our understanding of what ‘clean sport’ means to athletes is notably absent from the literature.

Objectives

Working together with elite athletes and National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs), this study explored the meaning and importance of ‘clean sport’ and ‘clean athlete identity’.

Design

Community-based participatory research design was employed to explore (a) how elite athletes define clean sport and being a clean athlete; (b) the hopes and challenges associated with clean sport and being a clean athlete; and (c) what can be done in anti-doping to elicit clean sport.

Methods

Five elite athletes in five European countries (Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Slovenia and United Kingdom) were recruited as co-researchers by their respective NADOs, trained for their role as co-researchers and individually interviewed. Seventy-seven elite athletes were then purposefully recruited for 12 athlete-led national focus groups. Finally, the five athlete co-researchers and five athlete participants took part in one 2.5-h long international focus group.

Results

Reflexive thematic analysis resulted in generating four overarching themes: ‘clean is being true to the self’, ‘clean performance enhancement has multiple meanings’, ‘clean is not a solo act’ and ‘the problems and solutions are systemic’. Collectively, the themes showed that the clean athlete identity is generally rooted in upbringing, early experiences and love of sport; and characterised by continued, intrinsically motivated commitment to fundamental values and morals acquired in childhood. In contrast, the concept of clean performance-enhancement is highly idiosyncratic and flexible. Elite athletes value anti-doping efforts but their experiences of disparity and unfairness in doping control undermine their trust in anti-doping.

Conclusion

Clean athlete identity is a social endeavour and artefact, which needs to be reflected in and developed through evidence-informed anti-doping interventions. Raising athletes' voices via collaboration and participatory research can be an enriching experience for athletes and researchers alike, and a worthwhile endeavour for sport organisations with responsibility for anti-doping. To make anti-doping education personally relevant, the richness of individual interpretation of ‘clean’ for the self (i.e., clean athlete identity) and performance-enhancement must be acknowledged, respected and cultivated.

The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive narrative review of extant scientific knowledge on the effectiveness of performance-enhancement-based interventions in youth sport settings. Specifically, the authors explore the effects of psychological interventions on the sport performance of young athletes (18 yr of age or under). Drawing on over 80 published studies that have attempted to enhance young athletes’ performances using a range of methodological and strategic approaches, four main clusters of research are presented. These clusters include single-strategy psychological-skills-training (PST) interventions, multimodal PST interventions, alternative single-strategy interventions, and alternative multimodal interventions. In each of these clusters, the landscape of work is overviewed and papers of particular methodological interest are highlighted before the authors draw out critical reflections, future research directions, and recommendations for supporting further scholarship and practice with young athletes.

This study provided a new contribution to the literature by examining elite early adolescent academy soccer players’ sport confidence needs. Preinterview booklets and individual semi structured interviews were used as multiple sources of qualitative data to identify the types, sources, and debilitating factors of sport confidence in a large sample (n = 28) of players within the youth development phase of the Elite Player Performance Plan. An abductive approach to hierarchical content analysis found 3 types of sport confidence: skill execution, physical factors, and psychological factors. These types were generated from five sources of sport confidence: accomplishments, social support, preparation, vicarious experience, and innate factors. Five confidence-debilitating factors—lack of social support, poor performances, poor preparation, pressure and expectations, and injury/illness—were also identified. Practitioners are advised to widen the sport confidence types experienced by elite adolescent performers and broaden the sources of sport confidence that such performers use to gain belief.

The current study investigated psychological stress among parents of competitive British tennis players. Adopting a multipart concurrent mixed method design, 135 British tennis parents completed a cross sectional online questionnaire to examine their primary appraisals, emotions, and coping strategies associated with self-disclosed stressors. Hierarchical content analysis was conducted on open ended questionnaire responses to identify key stressors and coping strategies, and descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to explore the differences between various components of the process. The findings revealed a range of organizational, competitive, and developmental stressors. These stressors were predominantly appraised as harm or challenge, and anxiety and anger were the most prominent emotions that the parents experienced. Statistically, parents experienced greater anger in relation to competition (compared to organizational and developmental) stressors, whilst harm appraisal increased negative emotions, and challenge appraisal increased positive emotions. Findings also highlighted how parents used a number of mastery, internal regulation, and goal withdrawal coping strategies, which varied statistically in degrees of reported effectiveness. The contribution of these findings to the stress literature and their applied implications are discussed.

The purpose of this article is to review and critique the literature in youth sport that specifically relates to parental influence on the experiences and psychosocial development of young athletes. First, we consider the literature examining the extent to which parental involvement in organised youth sport has been associated with psychosocial outcomes in young people. Within this critique, we draw upon what has been learned from the sport-based positive youth development (PYD) and life skills literature. Second, we address conceptual and methodological limitations of existing literature (e.g., homogeneity of samples, oversimplification of parenting in sport, studying parental involvement in isolation) and target key scientific gaps that exist in facilitating our understanding of optimal parental involvement (e.g., raising parental awareness and facilitating opportunities to support psychosocial development, improving coach education to facilitate parent-coach relationships, collaborating with coaches through well designed interventions, working on the “right” assets at the right time). Such gaps represent how parents appear to have been overlooked within the intentional process of psychosocial development. We offer concluding remarks about the future of youth sport in this area and provide specific recommendations to inspire future researchers and practitioners towards the challenge of empowering parents and more fully enabling their potential.

This paper presents a series of studies that progresses the development and validation of the Parent-Initiated Motivational Climate in Individual Sport Competition Questionnaire (MCISCQ-Parent). Study 1 examined the face and content validity of an initial pool of 26 items based on the principles of achievement goal theory and prior research. In Study 2, data from an adolescent sample of individual sport athletes was subjected to an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of items pertaining to the perceived task and ego involving characteristics of fathers and mothers in the competition setting. Study 3 tested the factor structure of the MCISCQ-Parent through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in a further youth athlete sample. Following appropriate CFA-related modifications, good goodness of fit indices emerged for the father- (three factor-model) and mother-related (two factor-model) dimensions of motivational climate. In Study 4, a further CFA was conducted and provided additional evidence for the revised factor structure of the MCISCQ-Parent, convergent and discriminant validity, and internal consistency. Finally, Study 5 provided support for the concurrent validity of the MCISCQ-Parent by demonstrating significant relationships between MCISCQ-Parent subscales and task and ego orientation, athlete engagement, and perceived social support. In sum, we present the MCISCQ-Parent as a measure with promising psychometric properties, and specifically to those applied researchers interested in assessing the quality of motivation-related parental involvement perceived by young athletes in the competition setting.

Background: 2,4-Dinitrophenol (2,4-DNP) is an effective but highly dangerous fat burner, not licensed for human consumption. Death cases reported for 2,4-DNP overdose, particularly among young adults, have raised concerns about the ineffective regulatory control, lack of education and risks associated with impurity, and the unknown concentration of 2,4-DNP purchased on the Internet.

Methods: Using a sequential mixed method design and based on a hypothetical scenario as if 2,4-DNP was a licensed pharmaceutical drug, first we conducted a qualitative study to explore what product attributes people consider when buying a weight-loss aid. Focus group interviews with six females and three males (mean age = 21.6 ± 1.8 years) were audiorecorded, transcribed verbatim, and subjected to thematic analysis. Sixteen attributes were identified for the Best–Worst Scale (BWS) in the quantitative survey with 106 participants (64% female, mean age = 27.1 ± 11.9 years), focusing on 2,4-DNP. Demographics, weight satisfaction, and risk for eating disorder data were collected.

Results: In contrast to experienced users such as bodybuilders, our study participants approached 2,4-DNP cautiously. Attributes of 2,4-DNP as a hypothetical weight-loss drug comprised a range of desirable and avoidable features. Of the 16 selected attributes, BWS suggested that long-term side effects were the most and branding was the least important attribute. Effectiveness and short-term side effects were also essential. Those in the >25 year group showed least concerns for legality. Neutral BWS scores for cost, treatment, degree of lifestyle changes required, and specificity required for the hypothetical weight-loss drug to be effective were likely caused by disagreement about their importance among the participants, not indifference.

Conclusion: With advances in research, 2,4-DNP as a pharmaceutical drug in the future for treating neurodegenerative diseases and potentially for weight loss is not inconceivable. Caution is warranted for interpreting the BWS scores. Owing to the difference in what data represent at individual vs. population levels, with pooled data, the method correctly identifies attributes by which most people are satisfied but misrepresents attributes that are individually very important but not universally agreed. Whilst this may be an advantage in marketing applications, it limits the utility of BWS as a research tool.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a novel online education program for British tennis parents and their experiences of engaging in the program. Using a convergent parallel mixed-methods design, 13 parents completed pre- and post-program online questionnaires, and a subset of 9 participants shared their experiences via an asynchronous e-mail interview. Quantitative findings revealed positive directional changes for almost all of the variables in relation to emotional experiences, goal orientations, tennis parent efficacy, and general parenting efficacy. The contribution of the combined quantitative and qualitative findings and their practical implications are discussed.

This study examined the effectiveness of an evidence-based sport parent education programme designed to meet the stage-specific needs of British tennis parents. Using an organisational action research framework, six workshops were run over a 12-week period for tennis parents with children between the ages of 5 and 10 years. Workshops took place in three high performance tennis centres and had an average attendance of 22 parents. Data were collected using participant diaries, emails, social validation feedback forms, reflective diaries and post-programme focus groups (n = 19). The impact and effectiveness of the programme was evaluated qualitatively using a thematic analysis. Results indicated that the programme was effective in enhancing tennis parents’ perceived knowledge, affective states and skills across a range of learning objectives. Results also provide a unique understanding of parents’ experiences of participating in a sport parent education programme. Insights are provided for practitioners in relation to the design, content and delivery of future sport parent education programmes.

The purpose of this study was to identify British tennis parents’ education and support needs across contexts and developmental stages. Data were collected in 2 high-performance tennis centers and consisted of 6 months of fieldwork and interviews with parents, coaches, and ex-youth players (n = 29). Using a grounded theory methodology (Corbin & Strauss, 2008), data were analyzed through a process of open coding, axial coding, and theoretical integration. The resulting grounded theory highlights the need to provide tennis parents with education that covers their introductory needs, organizational needs, development needs, and competition needs during childhood/mini tennis (5–10 years) and early adolescence/junior tennis (11–14 years). The theory is based on the notion that these needs can only be fulfilled if parents are placed in a supportive learning environment that provides them with structured education, the effectiveness of which will be determined by parents’ motivation to learn and ongoing support from key stakeholders (e.g., coaches). The content, structure, and timing of parent education and support in high-performance tennis centers are discussed.