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Establishing and enhancing standards of practice is important in any profession, and particularly so in a new and emerging domain such as sport psychology. Accordingly, this thesis draws on literature from teaching, medicine, and parallel disciplines such as clinical and counselling psychology to propose a Professional Judgment and Decision Making (PJDM) approach to the evaluation, reflective practice, and training of applied sport psychologists. Methods and mechanisms already utilised in these more established professions are considered alongside empirical data, generated from long-term programmes of sport psychology consultancy, as potential means to further enhance the performance of professionals in this developing field. As such, the thesis highlights gaps in current process, proposes an original conceptualisation of practice, and illustrates the possible outcomes and implications of this PJDM approach. In addition, the emergent PJDM principles are illustrated in practice through a reflection-in-action case study, and trained and evaluated in novice applied sport psychology practitioners as a basis for the effective development of PJDM expertise.

The significance of sport is now emerging as an important dimension of the broader scholarship that examines the social, cultural and political aspects of Scottish society. A prominent facet of this emerging body of literature has examined the multiple ways in which sport contributes to and is constitutive of Scottish nationalism and culture. This thesis builds upon previous studies of sport to examine the connections between shinty, nationalism and cultural identity. The rationale that underpins the thesis asserts that in order to understand more fully expressions of nationalism, it is necessary to examine the social and cultural forces that have contributed to different ideas about the nation in specific historical circumstances. At the heart of the thesis it is argued that the sport-nationalism-identity axis in Scotland has sought to assert different forms of autonomy. The concept of autonomy, articulated through civil society, provides an original conceptual framework for the critical analysis of shinty, nationalism and cultural identity between 1835 and 1939. The development of shinty during this period coincided with the emergence of a number of cultural and political movements that were par of a relatively autonomous Highland civil society, and which became the repository of a paricular strand of Celtic radicalism. A number of the leading proponents of Celtic radicalism were advocates of various aspects of Scottish nationalism that oscilated on the political landscape of Britain after 1886. Using a multi-methodological research approach, the thesis examines the extent to which the development of shinty intersected with key elements of Celtic radicalism and nationalism. It is concluded that shinty provided the terrain upon which paricular cultural identities could be ariculated, and was also a vehicle for paricular expressions of nationalism that reinforced different aspects of the autonomy of the Highlands within Scotland. This original and unique synthesis provided in this thesis makes a small contrbution to our understanding of sport in Scottish culture.

The primary purpose of the study is to develop a better scale of measuring resident attitudes toward impact of tourism development in Langkawi, Malaysia. The second objective is to test whether or not culture is a factor determining resident attitudes. This is determined by having residents with different racial groups as respondents. The study was comprised of six stages which followed the procedure suggested by Churchill (1979) and DeVellis (1991). The first stage began with generating all the items of tourism impacts. The items were obtained from interviews, the Tourism Impact Attitude Scale (TIAS) developed by Lankford and Howard (1994), the latest scale developed by Ap and Crompton (1998) and the current literature. The analysis ended with 48 items. For the next stage, nine judges were selected and were asked to assess the content validity and clarity of the scale. This deliberation eliminated four items to leave it with 44 items. Next, based on Fishbein's attitude model, the items were carefully worded to avoid bias and ambiguity in the questions. The items were then purified by using factor analysis and Cronbach's coefficient alpha. 220 students were used for the pretest analysis and the results ended with 29 items. The next stage of the scale verification involved the same analysis and was tested on 145 residents of Langkawi. The results ended with 13 items and five domains of tourism impact. Finally, the scale was tested for convergent validity and the result indicated a moderate relationship between the scale and the question used to measure the same thing. The study also confirmed that culture is a factor in determining resident attitudes towards impacts of tourism in Langkawi. The Langkawi Tourism Impact Attitude Scale (LATIAS) has been successfully developed and its shows strong reliability and good content and convergent validity. The scale encompasses 13 items and five domains to fit the Langkawi community's cultural background. Thus, the study makes a methodological contribution to developing an attitudinal scale which is reliable and valid. In addition, it allows for greater understanding of the resident attitudes toward tourism development in the area. However there is still a need to further verify the scale in other communities in order to substantiate it.

The Maltese Islands, traditionally renowned for their mild Mediterranean climate and sea, are a mass tourist destination. Recent tourism policy has increasingly aimed at promoting the extensive historical and cultural heritage of the islands as a market diversification tool; resulting in the development of cultural tourism. Literature on cultural tourism focused on its relationships to cultural tourists and the local community, and on its marketing and management. A macroscopic study on cultural tourism was conducted using a Grounded Theory approach which looked at the understanding and interactions of a number of stakeholders (MTA, tour-operators, cultural providers and the local community) as they promoted the local cultural tourism product through marketing and management practices. The research findings showed that the Maltese cultural product on offer needed consistent renewal as there was a lack of consensus amongst stakeholders, on what should be promoted as culture a nd consequently what were cultural tourism and the cultural product. These perspectives often resulted in stereotypical Mediterranean imagery which detracted from proactive marketing campaigns. Furthermore, the study showed that the institutional organisation of culture was fragmented, with limited collaboration amongst stakeholders, which effectively hindered a comprehensive management of cultural tourism. The study called for a comprehensive definition of Maltese culture, widely endorsed by stakeholders, reflected in an extensively diversified cultural tourism product that would introduce elements such as gastronomy and crafts to complement the already established heritage and festivals. Moreover, the fact that many aspects of the cultural product were closely identifiable with localities suggested that the eventual success of its marketing and management depended to a large extent, on getting local communities more involved and/or to claim ownership. Finally, there was a need for 'cultural intermediaries', intent on promoting a cultural product via a quality service with a solid education in cultural-related matters.

This study aims to develop a holistic view of the politics of tourism development in China. It examines how political ideology intertwines with tourism development and the same time identifies factors which are relevant to the issue. From the political science point of view, international tourism may be regarded as part of foreign affairs. This study adopted the case study approach linked to a chronological framework. China's tourism industry has been transformed from a political activity to an economic activity. In Mao Zedong era (1949-1976), international tourism was virtually non-existent. The phenomenon was a result of both internal factors, including the dominant role of dogmatic socialist ideology, and external factors, such as the Cold War. China's rapid development in tourism since 1978 was under the pragmatic leadership of Deng Xiaoping. With the shifts of internal and external environments, China's tourism industry and development is now based on market-driven policy instead of ideological-driven policy. The development of international tourism in China is the evolution of development theories from underdevelopment theory to modernisation theory and now globalisation theory. Based on the findings of this study, an explanatory framework was formulated by incorporating factors including perspective on the external and internal environments, and economic and tourism issues. The future of China's tourism seems to be a movement from the socialist market economy model to a more capitalistic model.

This study has three main objectives. The first is to examine the role of international tourism corporations in determining the direction and volume of international tourism development in developing countries. The second is to consider one type of international corporation - tour operators - in the context of Turkey; the focus is on the economic opportunities and problems that arise as a result of the activities of international tour operators in their relations with the accommodation sub-sector in Turkey. Finally, the third is to suggest policies which will increase the benefits of international tourism to developing countries and reduce the negative aspects of dependency on international tour operators. In order to achieve these objectives, the study was carried out in two main stages. The first was an extensive literature survey to provide a background to the field research, which provided information mainly on 'Tourism in Developing Countries' and 'International Corporations in International Tourism'. The second stage was the field research. Two surveys were conducted; the first was the tour operators survey in the UK and the second was the accommodation sub-sector survey in Turkey. During the accommodation sub-sector survey in Turkey, both primary data and secondary data were collected. While the secondary data was used to make a general analysis of Turkish tourism development, the primary data helped to determine the international tour operators' relationships with the accommodation sub-sector in Turkey. In conclusion, a number of suggestions are made as to ways to reduce the negative aspects of dependency on international tour operators.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om det finns några skillnader mellan fysiskt aktiva personer och fysiskt inaktiva personer och deras alkoholkonsumtion samt att undersöka om det finns en skillnad mellan könen i deras alkoholkonsumtion och graden av fysisk aktivitet. Frågeställningar: Finns det en skillnad i fysiska aktivitets- och alkoholvanor mellan män och kvinnor? Finns det en skillnad i alkoholkonsumtion mellan de som är fysiskt aktiva och fysiskt inaktiva? Finns det ett samband mellan ålder och alkoholkonsumtion och ålder och graden av fysisk aktivitet? Metod: En enkätundersökning där redan beprövade och validerade enkäter användes i denna studie: IPAQ för att mäta graden av fysisk aktivitet och AUDIT för att mäta alkoholkonsumtion. Enkäterna delades ut på olika företag i Stockholm av författarna själva. De respondenter som fick en totalpoäng lika med eller över 600 MET (metabolic equivalent)kategoriserades att tillhöra den fysiskt aktiva gruppen. Män med en AUDIT-poäng lika med eller över 8 och kvinnor med en AUDIT-poäng lika med eller över 6 kategoriserades att tillhöra gruppen riskbrukskonsumenter av alkohol. Det var 150 personer som deltog i studien. Resultat: Resultaten visade att 88 % av samtliga respondenter tillhörde den aktiva gruppen (MET > 600 min/ vecka). Ingen signifikant skillnad sågs mellan män och kvinnor i aktivitetsnivå (p= 0,728). Det fanns en signifikant skillnad (p=0,014) mellan män och kvinnor och deras alkoholkonsumtion, män drack mer alkohol än kvinnor. Dock var det signifikant fler kvinnor än män som tillhörde riskgruppen för alkohol. Resultaten visade också att aktiva personer drack mer alkohol än inaktiva personer (p=0,026). Sambandet mellan ålder och alkoholkonsumtion visade att med stigande ålder dricker man mindre alkohol (r =-0,171,p=0,038). Sambandet mellan ålder och fysisk aktivitet visade att med stigande ålder tränar man mindre på hög intensitet (r=-0,342, p= 0,000). Ett positivt samband mellan ålder och antalet MET- minuter i promenader kunde hittas (r=0,23, p= 0,008). Slutsats: En slutsats som kan dras från denna studie är att personerna som uppnår rekommendationerna av fysisk aktivitet dricker mer alkohol än personerna som inte uppnår rekommendationerna av fysisk aktivitet. Resultaten visade också att män dricker mer alkohol än kvinnor men att det är signifikant fler kvinnor än män som kategoriserades som riskkonsumenter av alkohol. Resultaten kan inte ses som allmängiltiga eftersom att urvalet i denna studie inte var slumpmässigt eller tillräckligt stort.

Syftet med föreliggande uppsats är att få en inblick och förstå personliga tränares sätt att konstituera yrkeskapital i sitt dagliga arbete. För att besvara syftet formulerades tre frågeställningar angående personliga tränares syn på sin utbildning, kropp och deras relation till sina klienter. Utifrån semistrukturerade intervjuer tillsammans med åtta personliga tränare har sedan frågeställningarna försökt besvarats. Informanterna bestod av fem män och tre kvinnor i åldrarna 21 till 45 år. Det empiriska materialet har sedan utifrån Bourdieus kapitalbegrepp analyserats. Resultatet presenteras under tre olika teman som berör respektive frågeställning, liksom knyter an till Bourdieus olika kapitalformer. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att personliga tränare fortfarande befinner sig i en skärningspunkt mellan det formella och informella. För att konstituera yrkeskapital krävs det att personliga tränare utnyttjar och har alla kapitalformer till sitt förfogande.