Part 2 – Roots to Grow and Wings to Fly: An Ethnography of Psychosocial Development in Adolescent Performance Sport.

Part 1 of this 2-paper series identified a wide and deep network of context, generative mechanisms and outcomes responsible for psychosocial development in a performance basketball club. In this – part 2 – study, the stakeholder’s programme theories were tested during a full-season ethnography of the same club. The findings confirm the highly individualised nature of each young person’s journey. Methodologically, immersion in the day-to-day environment generated a fine-grain analysis of the processes involved, including: i) sustained attentional focus; ii) structured and unstructured skill building activities; iii) deliberate and incidental support; and iv) feelings indicating personal growth. Personal development in and through sport is thus shown to be conditional, multi-faceted, time-sensitive and idiosyncratic. The findings of this two-part study are considered to propose a model of psychosocial development in and through sport. This heuristic tool is presented to support sport psychologists, coaches, club administrators and parents to deliberately create and optimise developmental environments.

Part 1 - Looking Back and Looking Around: How Parents, Coaches and Athletes See Psychosocial Development in Adolescent Performance Sport.

Sport has the potential to support psychosocial development in young people. However, extant studies have tended to evaluate purpose-built interventions, leaving regular organised sport relatively overlooked. Moreover, previous work has tended to concentrated on a narrow range of outcomes. To address these gaps, we conducted a season-long ethnography of a youth performance sport club based on a novel Realist Evaluation approach [1]. We construed the club as a social intervention within a complex system of agents and structures. In this - Part 1 - account we detail the perceptions of former and current club parents, players and coaches, using them to build a set of programme theories. The resulting network of outcomes (i.e. self, emotional, social, moral and cognitive) and generative mechanisms (i.e., the attention factory, the greenhouse for growth, the personal boost, and the real-life simulator) spanning across multiple contextual layers provides a nuanced understanding of stakeholders’ views and experiences. This textured perspective of the multi-faceted process of development provides new insights for administrators, coaches and parents to maximise the developmental properties of youth sport, and signposts new avenues for research in this area.

"Moving things forward": Birthing Suite culture and labour augmentation for healthy first-time mothers.

<p>In Aotearoa New Zealand, healthy women giving birth for the first time may plan to give birth in range of settings - from home to a tertiary hospital where surgical and anaesthetic services are available. Each birth location has its own culture, and the extent to which this culture influences the birth experience lies at the heart of this research. Just twenty-three percent of first-time mothers experience a normal birth with no obstetric interventions, and the chosen place of birth is implicated in this statistical outcome. Tertiary maternity settings report the highest rates of birth interventions, even for healthy women who can anticipate straightforward labour experiences. Among the most frequently used birth interventions are labour augmentation procedures - artificial rupture of membranes and administration of synthetic oxytocin infusions. My critical realist ethnography aims to explore the cultural landscape within one tertiary birthing suite and in doing so to identify the generative mechanisms that influence the likelihood of labour augmentation for well first-time mothers. I begin with a retrospective chart review to uncover the magnitude of the use of augmentation procedures for a sample of healthy women presenting in labour to the birthing suite over one calendar year. Interviews with women who experienced long labours yield insights about their decision-making with respect to augmentation. Focus groups and interviews with midwives and obstetric doctors contribute an understanding of factors associated with their use of augmentation, and a period of non-participant observation in the birthing suite illuminates the nuanced ways the unit culture contributes to the permissive use of augmentation procedures in this birthing environment. Findings reveal that sixty percent of women experienced labour augmentation procedures and for one third of them, the augmentation was not indicated according to the clinical guideline in use at the time. Pressure to be “moving things forward” characterises the birthing suite culture. The identified generative mechanisms that combine to influence the likelihood of augmentation include a lack of belief in birth, not valuing midwives, the education and socialisation of midwives and doctors, and the industrialisation of birth - all underpinned by available social discourses about being a good mother, a good midwife or a good doctor. Ironically, the very attributes that make the tertiary hospital the ideal place to be when birth is complex or the unexpected happens (‘poised-ness’ for action, being a ‘well-oiled machine’ for emergency care, surveillance and control) are the same attributes that create a dis-abling environment for physiological first birth to unfold at its own pace. The ‘perfect system’ is in place; a well-embedded midwifery-led continuity of care model incorporating seamless and integrated secondary referral processes. But despite this potentially enabling model of maternity care, once ‘nested’ within the tertiary hospital setting the impact of social, professional and industrial discourses overwhelms the salutogenic factors that should protect normal birth. A re-focussed commitment to providing continuity of care across the labour continuum, home visiting in early labour, enhancing physiological birth support in both the relational and environmental realms, averting the obstetric gaze and prioritising women’s needs over institutional needs represent the best way forward as strategies to resist the inexorable rise of obstetric intervention. Midwives are well-positioned to respond to this call. Reclaiming their expertise in support of physiological first birth by driving the practice and research agenda presents the optimal way to “move things forward” for women.</p>

"Moving things forward": Birthing Suite culture and labour augmentation for healthy first-time mothers.

<p>In Aotearoa New Zealand, healthy women giving birth for the first time may plan to give birth in range of settings - from home to a tertiary hospital where surgical and anaesthetic services are available. Each birth location has its own culture, and the extent to which this culture influences the birth experience lies at the heart of this research. Just twenty-three percent of first-time mothers experience a normal birth with no obstetric interventions, and the chosen place of birth is implicated in this statistical outcome. Tertiary maternity settings report the highest rates of birth interventions, even for healthy women who can anticipate straightforward labour experiences. Among the most frequently used birth interventions are labour augmentation procedures - artificial rupture of membranes and administration of synthetic oxytocin infusions. My critical realist ethnography aims to explore the cultural landscape within one tertiary birthing suite and in doing so to identify the generative mechanisms that influence the likelihood of labour augmentation for well first-time mothers. I begin with a retrospective chart review to uncover the magnitude of the use of augmentation procedures for a sample of healthy women presenting in labour to the birthing suite over one calendar year. Interviews with women who experienced long labours yield insights about their decision-making with respect to augmentation. Focus groups and interviews with midwives and obstetric doctors contribute an understanding of factors associated with their use of augmentation, and a period of non-participant observation in the birthing suite illuminates the nuanced ways the unit culture contributes to the permissive use of augmentation procedures in this birthing environment. Findings reveal that sixty percent of women experienced labour augmentation procedures and for one third of them, the augmentation was not indicated according to the clinical guideline in use at the time. Pressure to be “moving things forward” characterises the birthing suite culture. The identified generative mechanisms that combine to influence the likelihood of augmentation include a lack of belief in birth, not valuing midwives, the education and socialisation of midwives and doctors, and the industrialisation of birth - all underpinned by available social discourses about being a good mother, a good midwife or a good doctor. Ironically, the very attributes that make the tertiary hospital the ideal place to be when birth is complex or the unexpected happens (‘poised-ness’ for action, being a ‘well-oiled machine’ for emergency care, surveillance and control) are the same attributes that create a dis-abling environment for physiological first birth to unfold at its own pace. The ‘perfect system’ is in place; a well-embedded midwifery-led continuity of care model incorporating seamless and integrated secondary referral processes. But despite this potentially enabling model of maternity care, once ‘nested’ within the tertiary hospital setting the impact of social, professional and industrial discourses overwhelms the salutogenic factors that should protect normal birth. A re-focussed commitment to providing continuity of care across the labour continuum, home visiting in early labour, enhancing physiological birth support in both the relational and environmental realms, averting the obstetric gaze and prioritising women’s needs over institutional needs represent the best way forward as strategies to resist the inexorable rise of obstetric intervention. Midwives are well-positioned to respond to this call. Reclaiming their expertise in support of physiological first birth by driving the practice and research agenda presents the optimal way to “move things forward” for women.</p>

Preferential Attachment and Fitness in the Evolution of the Brazilian Film Network

This study analyzes the network evolution, specifically that of the Brazilian film network. It examines two generative mechanisms that lie behind the network evolution: preferential attachment and fitness. The starting point is that preferential attachment and fitness may compete to shape the network evolution. We built a novel dataset with 974 Brazilian feature films released between 1995 and 2017 and used PAFit, a brand-new statistical method, to estimate the joint effects of preferential attachment and fitness on the evolution of the Brazilian film network. This study concludes that the network evolution is shaped by both preferential attachment and fitness. However, in the presence of fitness, the effects of preferential attachment on the network evolution become weaker. This means that the node ability to form ties in the Brazilian film network is mainly explained by its fitness. Besides, the preferential attachment assumes a sub-linear form. Costs, communication and managerial capabilities, and node age explain why nodes are unable to accumulate ties at rates proportional to their degree. Finally, preferential attachment and fitness manifest themselves heterogeneously, depending on either the type or the duration of the network. Preferential attachment drives the cast network evolution, whereas fitness is the main generative mechanism of the crew network. Actors and actresses rely on their status, privilege, and power to obtain future contracts (preferential attachment), whereas technical members are selected on the basis of their talent, skills, and knowledge (fitness). Due to node age or exit, preferential attachment becomes stronger in shorter networks.

Ligação Preferencial e Aptidão na Evolução da Rede de Filmes Brasileiros

This study analyzes the network evolution, specifically that of the Brazilian film network. It examines two generative mechanisms that lie behind the network evolution: preferential attachment and fitness. The starting point is that preferential attachment and fitness may compete to shape the network evolution. We built a novel dataset with 974 Brazilian feature films released between 1995 and 2017 and used PAFit, a brand-new statistical method, to estimate the joint effects of preferential attachment and fitness on the evolution of the Brazilian film network. This study concludes that the network evolution is shaped by both preferential attachment and fitness. However, in the presence of fitness, the effects of preferential attachment on the network evolution become weaker. This means that the node ability to form ties in the Brazilian film network is mainly explained by its fitness. Besides, the preferential attachment assumes a sub-linear form. Costs, communication and managerial capabilities, and node age explain why nodes are unable to accumulate ties at rates proportional to their degree. Finally, preferential attachment and fitness manifest themselves heterogeneously, depending on either the type or the duration of the network. Preferential attachment drives the cast network evolution, whereas fitness is the main generative mechanism of the crew network. Actors and actresses rely on their status, privilege, and power to obtain future contracts (preferential attachment), whereas technical members are selected on the basis of their talent, skills, and knowledge (fitness). Due to node age or exit, preferential attachment becomes stronger in shorter networks.

Rethinking Proxy War Theory in IR: A Critical Analysis of Principal–Agent Theory

This paper explores the question of what drives proxy alignment in war and argues that current proxy war scholarship needs further thinking to go beyond focusing on the principal–agent theory and individual actors’ motivation analysis. Rather, there is a need to look at the generative mechanisms of proxy alignment as a process that constitutes patterns of friend–enemy relations. The paper argues securitization patterns from domestic to regional and international levels drive actors to re-evaluate their positions and define their enemies and friends. This is a process of securitization alignment and confluence, which serves as a generative mechanism for proxy alignment in a conflict. Securitization alignment is based on a convergence of securitizations by different actors that create a friend–enemy dynamic and convergence of security interests between actors. The confluence of securitizations from the domestic level to regional and beyond also connects actors across different levels to be in alignment and impact the conflict.

Distinct sequence features underlie microdeletions and gross deletions in the human genome

Microdeletions and gross deletions are important causes (~20%) of human inherited disease. Their genomic locations are strongly influenced by the local DNA sequence environment. Yet no systematic study has examined the generative mechanisms. Here, we obtained 42,098 pathogenic microdeletions and gross deletions from the Human Gene Mutation Database (HGMD) that together form a continuum of germline deletions ranging in size from 1 bp to 28,394,429 bp. We analyzed the sequence within 1-kb of the breakpoint junctions and found the frequencies of non-B DNA-forming repeats, GC content, and the presence of seven of 78 specific sequence motifs in the vicinity of pathogenic deletions correlated with deletion length for deletions of length ≤30 bp. Furthermore, we found the repeats of DR, GQ, and STR appear to be important for the formation of longer deletions (>30 bp) but not for the formation of shorter deletions (≤30 bp) and significantly (Chi-square test P-value < 2E-16) more microhomologies were identified in flanking short deletions than long deletions (length >30 bp). We provide evidence to support a functional distinction between microdeletions and gross deletions. A deletion length cut-off of 25-30 bp may serve as an objective means to functionally distinguish microdeletions from gross deletions.

‘A troublesome girl is pushed through’: Morality, biological determinism, resistance, resilience, and the Canadian child migration schemes, 1883–1939

This article critically analyses correspondence and decisions regarding children/young people who were included in the Canadian child migration schemes that ran between 1883 and 1939, and those who were deemed ‘undeserving’ and outside the scope of the schemes. Drawing on critical realist ontology, a metatheory that centralises the causal non-linear dynamics and generative mechanisms in the individual, the cultural sphere, and wider society, the research starts from the premise that the principle of ‘less or more eligibility’ lies at the heart of the British welfare system, both now and historically. Through analysing case files and correspondence relating to children sent to Canada via the Waifs and Strays Society and Fegan Homes, I shed light on the complex interplay between morality, biological determinism, resistance, and resilience in decisions around which children should be included or excluded. I argue that it was the complex interplay and nuance between the moral/immoral, desirable/undesirable, degenerate, and capable/incapable child that guided practice with vulnerable children in the late 1800s. In judgements around ‘deservedness’, related stigmas around poverty and ‘bad’ behaviour were rife. Within this, the child was punished for his/her ‘immoral tendencies’ and ‘inherited traits’, with little regard for the underlying reasons (e.g. abuse and neglect) for their (abnormal) behaviour and ‘mental deficiencies’.

Mechanisms of constraint: a clinical inquiry of digital infrastructuring in municipalities

Purpose The purpose of this study is to contribute to research concerning the role of digital infrastructure in digital government. This is done by answering the research question: how does digital infrastructuring constrain ambidexterity in public sector organizations? Design/methodology/approach The research is designed as a clinical inquiry in a large Swedish municipality, involving data collection in the form of interviews and internal documents. The method of analysis involves both exploring generative mechanisms in digital infrastructuring and theorizing on the findings based on previous literature. Findings The findings identify four generative mechanisms through which stability and change in digital infrastructuring constrain ambidexterity in terms of both efficiency (exploitation) and innovation (exploration). Research limitations/implications This study’s limitations are related to international and intersectoral transferability and risks associated with its approach to clinical inquiry. The main implications are its contribution to the literature on how stability counteracts not only innovation but also efficiency and how change counteracts not only efficiency but also innovation. Practical implications This study identifies clear generative mechanisms that should be avoided by managers striving for digital government, and it offers clear recommendations for said managers regarding how to avoid them. Social implications This study offers implications for national-level digital infrastructure policy and contributes to efforts to increase the capabilities of digital government. Originality/value As two of the four identified generative mechanisms are novel contributions, this study offers a concrete addition to existing research. This study has resulted in factual change in the studied organization as well as at the national level through successful dissemination of the findings for both policy and practice in other public sector organizations.