Promoting comprehensive sun protection policies and practices in outdoor sports: a qualitative study of perceived priorities and practicalities

Sun protection policies, environments, practices, and attitudes in sporting club contexts might be significant determinants of sun exposure among adult sporting participants. Face-to-face interviews, using standardised, open-ended questions were conducted with 20 club officials from four sports: soccer, hockey, tennis and surf lifesaving. Thematic content analysis identified a number of salient themes. Formal sun protection policies were well-implemented in surf lifesaving, but less so in soccer, hockey and tennis clubs, which often had informal sun protection practices in place. Officials perceived sun protection to be important, which was related to perceived exposure levels, the type of sport, length of time played and the season. Consistent logistical and practical considerations emerged, including limited resources, availability of shade, and lack of control over sporting facilities, uniform regulations and games scheduling. Sun protection efforts often focused on children more than adult players. Reciprocal responsibility was an important theme, where it was perceived that responsibility for sun protection should be equally shared between the club and the member. In this study it was found that reciprocal responsibility, duty of care and sport-specific practical requirements might significantly influence the success of policy, environmental and education initiatives for sun protection in sporting settings.

How is gender-based violence covered in the sporting news? An account of the Australian Football League sex scandal

Despite the significant amount of feminist and sociological research devoted to the question of sexual harassment and assault in sport, there has been little accompanying exploration of how the media discuss gender-based violence by sportsmen. This study examines the narratives of gendered behaviour that emerge in stories about Australian rules footballers and violence against women in the sport sections of two major Australian newspapers. As the audience for sport news is primarily male, the way that sexual misconduct by footballers is reported in this section of the newspaper provides an important dimension in theorising how media institutions influence public discourse and understandings of gender.

Interventions implemented through sporting organisations for increasing participation in sport (Review)

The sport and recreation sector is viewed as a priority area for increasing rates of physical activity. Participation rates have been shown to be lower in females, decline with age, and are reduced in lower socio-economic and minority groups. It is important to determine the most effective interventions rhat sporting organisations can use to increase participation and reduce inequalities. This systematic review of the literature did not find any controlled studies assessing the effects of interventions to increase participation in spar!.

Policy interventions implemented through sporting organisations for promoting healthy behaviour change (review)

Background
Sporting organisations provide an important setting for health promotion strategies that involve policies, communication of healthy messages and creation of health promoting environments. The introduction of policy interventions within sporting organisations is one strategy to target high risk behaviours such as smoking, alcohol consumption, excess sun exposure, unhealthy eating and discrimination.

Objectives
To review all controlled evaluation studies of policy interventions organised through sporting settings to increase healthy behaviour (related to smoking, alcohol, healthy eating, sun protection, discrimination, safety and access).

Search strategy
We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsyclNFO, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, Sociological Abstracts, Dissertation Abstracts, freely available online health promotion and sports-related databases hosted by leading agencies, and the internet using sport and policy-related key words. We identified further studies in the bibliographies of articles and by contacting authors of key articles in the area.

Selection criteria
We aimed to identify research that had used study designs that incorporated an evaluated intervention and comparison. Uncontrolled studies, meeting other inclusion criteria, were to be reported in an annex to the review.
Types of studies: Studies in which sporting organisations were allocated to a policy intervention or control/comparison group. No minimum follow-up required.
Types of participants: People of all ages.
Types of interventions: Any policy intervention implemented through sporting organisations to instigate and/or sustain healthy behaviour change, intention to change behaviour, or changes in attitudes, knowledge or awareness of healthy behaviour. Policies must address any of the following: smoking, alcohol, healthy eating, sun protection, access for disadvantaged groups, physical safety (not including injuries), and social and emotional health (e.g.. anti-vilification, anti-discrimination).
Types of outcome measures: Behaviour change, intention to change behaviour, change in attitudes, knowledge or awareness of healthy behaviour, and policy presence.

Data collection and analysis
We assessed whether identified citations were controlled evaluation studies and investigated the use of policy implemented in sporting settings. Abstracts were independently inspected by two reviewers and full papers were obtained where necessary. As no controlled evaluation studies were located, no data collection or analysis was undertaken. No uncontrolled studies meeting other inclusion criteria were identified and therefore no annex is presented.

Main results
No rigorous studies were located to test the effectiveness of policy interventions organised through sporting organisations to increase healthy behaviours, attitudes, knowledge or inclusion of health oriented policies within the organisarions.

Authors' conclusions
We were unable to find any controlled studies to guide the use of policy interventions used in sporting settings. The search process revealed a number of case studies with anecdotal reporting of outcomes. We strongly recommend that rigorous evaluation techniques are employed more commonly in this field to illuminate the impact of health promoting policy on outcomes, and the contexts and processes which are likely ro be effective in reducing harmful behaviours.

Talent identification and risk management at AFL clubs : 'We'll only recruit public school boys in the future'

This paper will report on a research project funded by the Australian Football League (AFL).The research mobilises Foucault's later work on the care of the Self to focus on the ways in which player identities are regulated; and the manner in which players conduct themselves in ways that can be characterised as professional - or not.

The paper explores the forms of risk management that Clubs use in the processes of talent identification that they engage in as a consequence of AFL rules. The paper discusses how psychological profiling is used to identify character traits prior to initial recruitment in the draft or trading processes - and reports on suggestions that risk management in this increasingly commerciaIised context may lead to recruitment practices that exclude certain types of persons. from
certain types of backgrounds.

Made which to measure? Nineteenth century science and sporting bodies

The modification of bodies to enhance performance for competitive sporting purposes originated in the mid eighteenth century. Since then, ‘science’ has informed the discourses of sports training practices, but its influence has changed significantly, now being directive rather than merely being addressed in the ethos of training. Today, sports training practices often are associated with scientific research focussed on understanding the biological processes underpinning physical achievements. However, in the first two centuries of modern sport, science, rather than directing practice, was used as a legitimating, justifying discourse that served to empower training practices.

This paper, an exercise in historical anthropology, replaces conventional ethnographic data with the texts of sports training manuals, sports periodicals and medical journals to examine how these discourses represented the influence of science on the preparation of the body for competition. The focus on the nineteenth century is instructive because, first, physiological models at the century’s start were influenced by Galenic theory, but were underpinned by modern empirical science at its end. Second, from the 1860s, amateurism inspired a major rethinking of training; the ensuing contrast with the preparation of professional athletes illustrates how science was deployed in the making of nineteenth century sporting bodies.