scholarly journals Challenges of an established amateur sport: Exploring how wheelchair basketball grows and thrives through a sport development lense

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-75
Author(s):  
Joshua R Pate ◽  
Danielle Bragale

Wheelchair basketball has been played in the United States for more than 70 years, and the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) governing body has professionalized the sport to some extent with a league and culminating annual championship for its eight divisions. However, teams continue to face challenges that characteristically align with those of amateur sport in addressing recruiting and retaining athletes. The purpose of this study was to examine the challenges elite, competitive wheelchair basketball programs face and to understand their approach to recruiting and retaining athletes with disabilities to play the sport. Green’s (2005) theory of sport development was chosen as the lens for this study because of its focus on establishment of a sport for sustainability through athlete participation. An online open-ended questionnaire was sent to all 139 NWBA team contacts, with 28 responses representing multiple divisions within the league. Findings revealed that teams were primarily formed through unstable means of personal interest and community needs as well as stable means of university and rehabilitation hospital systems. Participants identified funding as the biggest challenge as they offered little support for tournament travel or financial rewards for athletes. Teams recruited athletes through social connections and community presence, but offered little structure for their means of retaining athletes. These findings show the NWBA teams operate with challenges akin to amateur sport due to uncertainty of funding and athlete sustainability.

Author(s):  
Simon Northmore ◽  
Angie Hart

In recent years there has been a huge growth in the academic literature on community-university partnership working. However, much of this is practice based and the issue of how such partnerships can be sustained over time is not adequately reflected in the literature. This introductory chapter lays the foundations for the subsequent thirteen articles by first discussing notions of sustainability, in part by providing a brief overview of the Community University Partnership Programme (Cupp) at the University of Brighton, UK. After a period of rapid growth, we are increasingly concerned with how to sustain the reciprocal relationships that underpin long-term engagement, a situation exacerbated by potential looming funding cuts. Paradoxically, however, this article suggests that while funding is an important element of sustainability, the current economic challenges may help to generate sustainability as community-university partnerships are forced to examine what other factors contribute to lasting relationships. It is these ‘other factors’ that the articles in this collection fruitfully explore. Coming from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, they examine the core research question that concerns us: how do we address the challenges of building sustainable community-university partnerships, especially with disadvantaged and excluded communities, at a time of diminishing resources? Despite the wide range of community needs and methodological diversity involved, the articles suggest that some common characteristics underpin sustainability. These include: genuine reciprocity; mutual learning; and a creative approach to partnership building that recognises the diverse purposes of partners. This introductory chapter concludes that there is a need to further refine our understanding of community-university partnerships through the development of more theoretical models of sustainability. Keywords: sustainability, partnerships, reciprocal relationships, mutual learning


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-76
Author(s):  
Graham Francis Badley

In this essay of fragments, I provide a moderate and occasionally mocking qualitative rant about some of the main links between trumpism and trumpery. I do so because I believe that the global community needs to become more aware of the political and social dangers embodied in the power wielded by, especially, the 45th president of the United States.


2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Maese

AbstractIt is clear from disaster evaluations that communities must be prepared to act independently before government agencies can cope with the early ramifications of disasters. In response to devastation to the borough of Staten Island, New York in the wake of 11 September 2001, the Richmond County Medical Society established a structure to incorporate community needs and institutions to work together for the common good. A program that brings together two hospital systems, nursing homes, emergency medical services, and the Office of Emergency Management physician leadership in a meaningful way now is in place. This approach has improved the disaster preparedness of Staten Island and demonstrated how the Medical Society can provide leadership in disaster preparedness and serve as a conduit for communication amongst entities that normally do not communicate.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (8) ◽  
pp. 922-935 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter S. DeKeseredy ◽  
Amanda Hall-Sanchez ◽  
James Nolan

Since the mid-1980s, researchers across the United States have uncovered high rates of sexual assault among female college students. However, to advance a better understanding of this gendered type of victimization, and to both prevent and control this problem, the research community needs to identify its major correlates. One that is consistently uncovered in North American campus survey work is negative peer support, especially that provided by male peers. Yet, some earlier studies have found that mixed-sex negative peer support, too, contributes to campus sexual assault. Using recent data from the Campus Quality of Life Survey conducted at a large residential school in the South Atlantic region of the United States, the main objectives of this article are to examine the role of mixed-sex negative peer support in campus sexual assault and to identify the groups of women most at risk of having friends who offer such support.


2017 ◽  
Vol 216 (9) ◽  
pp. 1053-1062 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellsworth M Campbell ◽  
Hongwei Jia ◽  
Anupama Shankar ◽  
Debra Hanson ◽  
Wei Luo ◽  
...  

We demonstrate that integration of laboratory, phylogenetic, and epidemiologic data sources allow detailed reconstruction of an outbreak. High-resolution reconstruction of outbreak phylodynamics allows prevention and intervention strategies to be tailored to community needs.


10.2196/20721 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. e20721
Author(s):  
Joshua David Calvano ◽  
Edwin Lauritz Fundingsland Jr ◽  
Deborah Lai ◽  
Sara Silacci ◽  
Ali S Raja ◽  
...  

Background As the public increasingly uses the internet to search for resources and information regarding health and medicine, it is important that health care organizations provide adequate web resources. Website usability refers to the ease of user experience on a website. In this study, we conducted usability analyses on digital health center websites. Objective The primary aims of this study were to (1) replicate a preexisting usability scoring methodology for digital health centers; (2) apply and test this replicated usability scoring methodology on a sample set of digital health center websites; and (3) derive recommendations from the results on potential areas of improvements for our sample of digital health center websites. Methods Website usability testing was conducted from March 1, 2020, to March 15, 2020. We replicated a methodology and scoring system from previous literature and applied them to digital health center websites. Our sample included 67 digital health centers that were affiliated with US universities or hospital systems. Usability was split into the following four broad categories: accessibility, marketing, content quality, and technology. Usability tools were used to score websites in each of the four categories. The composite of the key factors of each category was used to generate a general usability and overall usability score for each website. Results The category with the highest average score (6.3) was content quality. The content quality score also had the highest SD (2.18) and an SE of 0.27. The lowest performing category was technology, which had an average score of 0.9. The technology score also had the smallest SD (0.07) and an SE of 0.01. Conclusions Our data suggest that content quality, on average, was the highest scoring variable among digital health center websites. As content is crucial to digital health knowledge, it is justified that digital health centers invest more resources into creating quality content. The overall lowest scoring variable was technology. Potential reasons for this finding include designated funding for servers, a lack of regulatory frameworks for social media presence and liability, and infrequent website audits. An easy approach for improving this variable is increasing website speed. Accessibility is another area that organizations can potentially improve. We recommend that these organizations perform periodic audits of their web presence with usability tools.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 78-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
I.V. Zenkevich

The article is dedicated to the contribution of Harvard professor Archibald Cary Coolidge and his students into the rise and development of Russian studies in American Universities. The author believes that it was due to their personal interest and enthusiasm that the Russian language began to be taught in the USA universities. The article provides information about Coolidge’s biography, his approach to teaching Russian, and his work aimed at popularizing Russian and introducing it into the American higher education curriculum.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred Jerrod Anzalone ◽  
Ronald Horswell ◽  
Brian Hendricks ◽  
San Chu ◽  
William Hillegass ◽  
...  

IMPORTANCE: Rural communities are among the most underserved and resource-scarce populations in the United States (US), yet there are limited data on COVID-19 mortality in rural America. Furthermore, rural data are rarely centralized, precluding comparability across urban and rural regions. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to assess hospitalization rates and all-cause inpatient mortality among persons with definitive COVID-19 diagnoses residing in rural and urban areas. DESIGN, SETTINGS, AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective cohort study from the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) examines a cohort of 573,018 patients from 27 US hospital systems presenting with SARS-CoV-2 infection between January 2020 and March 2021, of whom 117,897 were hospitalized. A sample of 450,725 hospitalized persons without COVID-19 diagnoses was identified for comparison. EXPOSURES: ZIP Codes provided by source hospital systems were classified by urban-rural gradient through a crosswalk to the US Department of Agriculture Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Primary outcomes were hospitalization and all-cause mortality among hospitalized patients. Kaplan-Meier analysis and mixed effects logistic regression were used to estimate 30-day survival in hospitalized patients and associations between rurality, hospitalization, and inpatient mortality while controlling for major risk factors. RESULTS: Rural patients were more likely to be older, white, have higher body mass index, and diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 later in the pandemic compared with their urban counterparts. Rural compared with urban inhabitants had higher rates of hospitalization (23% vs. 19%) and all-cause mortality among hospitalized patients (16% vs. 11%). After adjustment for demographic and baseline differences, rural residents (both urban adjacent and non-adjacent) with COVID-19 were more likely to be hospitalized (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) 1.41, 95% Confidence Interval (CI), 1.37-1.45 and AOR 1.42, CI 1.35-1.50) and to die or be transferred to hospice (AOR 1.62, CI 1.30-1.49 and 1.38, CI 1.30-1.49), respectively. Similar differences in mortality were noted for hospitalized patients without SARS-CoV-2 infection. CONCLUSIONS: Hospitalization and inpatient mortality are higher among rural compared with urban persons with COVID-19, even after adjusting for several factors, including age and comorbidities. Further research is needed to understand the factors that drive health disparities in rural populations.


Author(s):  
Larita J. Killian ◽  
Fabiola Monje-Cueto ◽  
Marsha Huber ◽  
Christopher Brandon

Professional engagement helps students develop professional judgment, connect their coursework to the “real world,” and explore accounting-related careers.  Internships often provide a route to these benefits, but some students cannot complete internships.  The Pathways Commission calls for new, creative approaches to professional engagement.  In the ethics interview exercise, students engage with professionals for a single interview.  Following the intentional learning model, students complete activities before and after the interview.  They select the interviewee, prepare questions about ethics and topics of personal interest, organize and conduct the interview, and reflect on the experience.  We implemented the exercise in different accounting courses at universities in the United States and Bolivia, using both face-to-face and virtual interviews.  We applied principles of phenomenology for assessment.  Results indicate the exercise helps students experience the benefits of professional engagement.  The exercise requires little modification to existing courses and can be modified to support varied learning goals.


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