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Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / It has been estimated that 37 million children play nonschool youth sports in the United States. Each child likely will have some contact with a volunteer nonschool youth sport coach during their sports experience. This study was developed as a means of determining the nature of volunteerism as it applies to volunteer coaches. As well the study examines the traits and skills that volunteer coaches believe to be appropriate for this coaching activity. Preliminary research was conducted to identify the most significant beliefs that influenced adults to volunteer as coaches. Based upon the findings of the preliminary research, further systematic research was needed in order to construct and administer a questionnaire instrument to volunteer coaches. In order to assess the reliability of the questionnaire, a principal axis factor analysis with varimax rotation was performed. The analysis resulted in a six-factor solution for eighteen items. An examination of the clustered items revealed a shared theme within each cluster. An independent samples t-test and zero order correlation coefficient analysis were performed for three dependent variables. Research was conducted with the cooperation of USA Hockey at a number of Intermediate-level coaching clinics held in the state of Massachusetts. Results indicate that volunteers are influenced by altruism, a love of the sport of ice hockey, and self-interest -- as many volunteer coaches have children on the teams they coached. Volunteer coaches appear to follow the positive coaching mandates of USA Hockey with a focus on developing the skills of the players and placing little emphasis on winning. Weaknesses appear to be a lack of a consistent curriculum for coaches to utilize and a lack of skilled coaches to teach the intricacies of the game of ice hockey. / 2999-01-01

Objectives: The aim of this thesis is to add to the knowledge base on semantic memory (SM) in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) following unilateral resection. Method: A systematically informed literature review was completed to identify existing literature. By reviewing the literature, a shortage of studies evaluating SM in this patient group was identified. It also highlighted disparity in objective measurement of SM. An under representation of subjective measurement via self-report was discovered, no apparent reason for this was identified. This literature review informed and provided the rationale behind a correlational study between objective and subjective assessment of SM. Using a case series methodology, SM was reviewed in a sample of 20 people with TLE who had undergone surgery. The aim was to compare self-reported SM difficulties with a standardised SM assessment. Self-report was also explored using content analysis to look at quality of life. Results: There was one significant finding with respect to self-report and neuropsychological tests, this was between self-reported problems with ‘understanding conversations’ and The 64-Naming Test, taken from the Cambridge Semantic Battery (Bozeat et al., 2000). Sensitive measures and sensitive questioning of SM were found to aid identification of changes in SM. In general, self-report ratings of memory were not significantly correlated with objective neuropsychological testing. Exploration of self-report data highlighted that an equal number of left (78%) and right TLE (73%) patients reported problems with SM. Five key themes were identified representing positive and negative factors post-surgery; emotional issues (65%) and adjustment issues (55%) predominated. Psychological issues seemed to reflect reports of depression more than anxiety. Discussion: Participants post-surgery were more sensitive to naming impairments than other forms of SM impairments. Self-report of naming impairments may indicate semantic processing difficulties, and therefore may be a valuable method to aid clinical assessment. Conclusions: Supplementing objective measurement with sensitive self-report assessment is useful in clinical practice.

The studies described in this thesis were undertaken to investigate the physiological responses to short-term training stress in male distance runners. The aim of the thesis was to identify practical physiological markers of training stress that could identify acute fatigue and hence determine recovery status within a physical training programme. Study 1 investigated the physiological responses of 6 well-trained runners and 6 active but untrained individuals to 15 min of moderate intensity (70 % VO,max) treadmill running performed immediately before, 1,48 and 96 h following a treadmill run to exhaustion at 75% VO,max (Exh75%). The trained group ran for 107.1 ± 6.5 min before exhaustion in comparison to untrained group who ran for 60.6 ± 3.9 min.

<p> The primary purpose of this study was to examine interscholastic athletic director&rsquo;s transformational leadership style and its impact on organizational effectiveness based on 14 legal and moral duties. Two survey instruments were used to collect the data necessary to examine the relationship between the leadership styles of interscholastic athletic directors, gender, and organizational effectiveness. Based on the 14 legal and moral duties specified by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA), the Multi-factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ 5X) rater version and a self-developed questionnaire based on the 14 legal and moral duties specified by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) were used to measure the athletic directors&rsquo; organizational effectiveness as perceived by the head coaches. Three hundred forty three head coaches from the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) completed surveys. The research design was a quantitative approach that used Pearson&rsquo;s correlation, and a t-test to examine the impact of directors&rsquo; transformational leadership style and gender on organizational effectiveness. Quantitative results revealed a significant relationship between the five domains of transformational leadership and organizational effectiveness. Results of the <i>t</i>-test analysis revealed statistically significant differences between male and female head coaches in evaluating their athletic directors&rsquo; leadership style and that there are no significant differences between male and female head coaches in evaluating their athletic directors&rsquo; organizational effectiveness. Previous research supports the findings from this study, which identified the need for athletic directors to adapt the transformational leadership style in order to reach a higher level of carrying out their 14 legal and moral duties.</p>

The human body endures stress on a daily basis, with many occupational and recreational activities beset with such challenges to homeostasis. These challenges include that of exercise and exposure to challenging environments (hypoxia and hyperbaria). A group of specialised proteins, termed heat shock proteins (HSP) provide protection to such stressors at a cellular level. This cellular defence mechanism protects and oversees whole body protein homeostasis, which is vital to all cellular processes. One such protective HSP, is HSP72, which is present in almost all cellular compartments and has received extensive and widespread research interest – with elevations in HSP72 indicatively linked to augmented cellular and whole body resistance to various exercise and environmental stressors. Despite this extensive research interest, several fundamental areas of concern with regard to HSP72 have not been satisfactorily addressed or delineated. In general, the experimental chapters of this thesis were designed to investigate several broad research questions related to those areas that have not been sufficiently addressed, as highlighted by the Literature Review. These areas include the reliance on thermal and/or mechanical stress to induce elevations in HSP72, both in vitro and in vivo, to initiate conveyed cellular protection. No in vivo attempts have been made to use a non-thermal and/or non-mechanical based stimulus, such as a hypoxic or hyperbaric exposure, to induce elevations in basal HSP72 in an attempt to confer cellular tolerance to future episodes of stress. Additionally, any potential relationships between changes in redox balance and stress induced changes in HSP72 expression have not been investigated in vivo, this potential interplay could be important when discussing any likely mechanisms for HSP72 dependent conferred cellular tolerance. In order to investigate such hypoxic or hyperbaric mediated changes in basal HSP72 expression securely, basal expression of monocyte expressed HSP72 (mHSP72) warrants investigation (diurnal and/or circadian variation), as, at present, this has not be conducted securely or adequately. The first experimental chapter investigated basal expression of mHSP72 over a 24 h period. Seventeen recreationally active (mean ± SD: 5.9±2.2 h∙wk-1) male subjects (19.8±4.3 yr, 177±6.4 cm, 75.7±10.9 kg) had blood samples taken every 4 h from 0900 until 0900 the next day, at rest, within a temperature regulated laboratory. Core temperature, as assessed by ingestible telemetric temperature sensor pill, was obtained at 5 min intervals. Basal mHSP72 expression was found to follow a circadian rhythm, which was correlated to core temperature (rs=0.41, p<0.001). Notably, during “waking” hours (0900 – 2100), this circadian rhythm was shown to follow a quadratic trend in expression (F = 21.2, p < 0.001). The second experimental chapter investigated the repeatability of the quadratic trend in basal mHSP72 expression demonstrated within the previous experimental chapter. Twelve healthy recreationally active (mean ± SD: 5.2±1.9 h∙wk-1) male subjects (20.2±1.9 yr, 178.7±5.6 cm, 75.1±6.0 kg) had blood samples taken on three separate days (separated by three days) over a 9 h period (0800, 1100, 1400) at rest within a temperature regulated laboratory. Results supported those from the previous chapter, whereby, the quadratic trend in basal mHSP72 expression was evident on three separate days (F = 26.0; p = 0.001; partial η2 = 0.74), where mHSP72 decreased between 0800 and 1100 (mean difference = -17%; 95% CI = -24%, -10%; p < 0.001) and then increased between 1100 and 1400 (mean difference = 8%; 95% CI = 2%, 14%; p = 0.015). In conjunction with the first experimental chapter, these results demonstrate the importance in controlling the time of day interventions are administered in vivo, as differential responses may be seen due to differences in basal HSP72 expression. Furthermore, when regular blood samples are required post intervention, the timetabling of such collections needs to be stringently adhered to, due to within-day variation in basal mHSP72. Differing basal values of mHSP72 are known to determine the magnitude of post stressor mHSP72 expression and thus any variation (even minimal) in basal mHSP72 is important. The third experimental chapter investigated the potential of an environmental stressor to disrupt the quadratic trend in basal mHSP72 and explored whether any such changes in mHSP72 may have a relationship with alterations in redox balance. Six healthy recreationally active (mean ± SD: 5.9±2.3 h.wk-1) male subjects (mean ± SD: 21.3±7.2 yr, 179.2±4.8 cm, 79.3±9.9 kg) participated within the study. Control values (NA) for mHSP72 were obtained one week before the first hyperbaric air (HA) exposure with the hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) exposure following a week later (i.e. 3 study days NA, HA and HBO each separated by one week). These exposures commenced at 1500 and involved a simulated dive consisting of HA (2.8 ATA) or HBO (20 min O2, 5 min HA cycle) within a hyperbaric chamber constituting 78 min bottom time. Within each study day blood samples were taken at 0900, 1300, 1700 and 2100. The administration of HBO and HA were sufficient to disrupt the quadratic trend shown within the NA condition (F = 27.6, p < 0.001). The model demonstrated significant main effects for condition (F = 24.7, p < 0.001) and time (F = 9.6, p < 0.001), and a condition x time interaction effect was also observed (F = 7.1, p < 0.001). Decomposition of this interaction effect revealed a reduction in mHSP72 was evident post hyperbaric exposures, whereby, mHSP72 expression at 1700 was significantly higher in NA than in HA (p = 0.016) and HBO (p < 0.001), this reduction was still evident in both HA and HBO compared to NA at 2100 (p < 0.001). In addition to quantification of mHSP72, a measure of oxidative stress, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (plasma TBARS), was also retrospectively assessed from the isolated plasma of these blood samples. There were no significant main effects observed for condition (F = 0.7; p = 0.50) or time (F = 0.06; p = 0.81), and no significant condition x time interaction effect (F = 0.5; p = 0.62) for plasma TBARS. Despite the failure of the hyperbaric environments to elicit increases in basal mHSP72, one important physiological contribution may be contrived of this reduction in mHSP72, as in vitro and in vivo low basal mHSP72 content is indicatively correlated to enhanced post stressor HSP72 expression. Such hyperbaric mediated reductions in basal content may allow enhanced HSP72 expression post stressor, an intervention which may be of benefit to hyperthermic exercise acclimation protocols which seek elevated mHSP72 as part of the in vivo heat acclimation process. The fourth experimental chapter employed an acute hypoxic exposure (75 min, 2980 m) at rest in an attempt to disrupt the previously demonstrated quadratic trend in basal mHSP72 expression and explored whether any such changes in mHSP72 may have a relationship with alterations in redox balance. Twelve healthy recreationally active (mean ± SD: 5.1±1.5 h.wk-1) male subjects (19.8±3.5 yr, 175.5±10.8 cm, 73.1±8.0 kg) participated in the study. Testing was conducted on consecutive days, with all subjects providing control samples on this first day with the hypoxic exposure administered on the second day. This exposure commenced and ceased at 0930 and 1045 respectively. Blood samples were taken at 0800, 1100, 1400, 1700 and 2000. In addition to quantification of mHSP72 a measure of oxidative stress, plasma TBARS, was also retrospectively assessed from the isolated plasma of these blood samples. There was a significant quadratic trend in mHSP72 for the control condition (F = 23.5; p = 0.002; partial η2 = 0.77) with no such trend evident for the hypoxic condition (largest F ratio was for a quadratic trend: F = 3.9; p = 0.087).

Transtibial amputees are at a higher risk of falling than age-matched able-bodied individuals. In order to make recommendations for falls prevention and treatment programmes, it is important to have a sound understanding of the underlying biomechanical function in persons at high risk of falling. While biomechanical differences between fallers and non-fallers have been identified in older adults, no research to date has specifically compared amputee fallers and non-fallers. The aim of this thesis was to undertake a biomechanical comparison of amputee and able-bodied fallers and non-fallers performing activities of daily living. A secondary aim was to investigate the effect of falls on balance confidence and quality of life and to determine whether a relationship existed between functional and psychological measures according to a person’s falls history. Twenty participants (11 transtibial amputees and 9 controls) took part in several studies including a kinematic and kinetic analysis of level walking, stair ascent and descent using a 3-step staircase. They also completed the Sensory Organisation Test (SOT) and Motor Control Test (MCT) on the NeuroCom EquiTest and their postural control was measured in static and dynamic conditions. Participants completed the MFES and SF-36 psychological instruments aimed at quantifying balance confidence and perceived quality of life, respectively. The first study investigated how falls were monitored by physiotherapists and the use of outcome measures in amputee rehabilitation in England. Shortcomings were identified in amputee rehabilitation in that physiotherapists did not monitor falls incidence regularly among their amputee patients and that there was no consensus on the types of recommended outcome measures. The second study explored the biomechanical differences between fallers and non-fallers during level walking and the findings indicated that the amputee fallers had a significantly larger vertical GRF with respect to body weight during loading on the affected limb (p=0.01) and consequently loaded their affected limb significantly more than the non-fallers (p = 0.03). The opposite finding was reported in the control group, where the non-fallers had significantly greater load rates compared to the fallers (p=0.02). The amputee fallers also had significantly different power profiles at the hip (power absorption in stance, p=0.01) and the ankle (power generation in pre-swing, p=0.04) during the transition from double to single support on the affected leg. In the third study, biomechanical differences were examined during stair ascent revealing that the fallers walked significantly faster up stairs than the non-fallers (p=0.05) in the amputee groups, while the opposite was observed in the control groups (p=0.03). Kinematic differences were revealed, such as significantly increased knee ROM in both groups of fallers when compared to their non faller counterparts (p=0.04 and p=0.05 for the amputee and control groups, respectively). The amputee fallers had significantly larger vertical GRF peaks (p=0.01 and p=0.00, respectively), decay rate (p=0.01), ankle plantarflexor moment (p=0.01) and knee joint powers (power absorption in pre- and mid-swing, p=0.00 and p=0.01, respectively) on the intact limb compared to the non-fallers. A forth study exploring gait patterns during stair descent revealed that some amputees used a modified stepping strategy during stair locomotion by adopting a ‘step to’ pattern. The fifth study used computerised dynamic posturography with the Neurocom Equitest to understand how fallers and non-fallers maintained postural control under static and dynamic conditions. The results demonstrated that the amputee fallers scored significantly better on the equilibrium score on the SOT when visual and somatosensory input was inaccurate (p=0.05) (indicating less postural sway). The amputee fallers also bore significantly more weight through their affected limb during destabilising backwards and forwards translations, while the amputee non-fallers bore more weight through their intact limb (p

Inability to cope with stress in sport has been associated with sport withdrawal (Klint & Weis, 1986; Smith, 1986), decreased performance (Lazarus, 2000), and athletes not being able to pursue careers in professional sport (Holt & Dunn, 2004). It is therefore crucial to both researchers and practitioners working with athletes to have a greater understanding of coping in sport in order to design effective interventions and to make sport a more satisfying experience (Nicholls & Polman, 2007a). Since the 1990s there has been an increase in published studies in coping in sport. However, the understanding of factors which might influence coping in sport is still unclear and under researched. For example, gender appears to be a moderator variable influencing the stress and coping process. Nevertheless the relationship between gender and coping in sport appears to be equivocal. Some studies have reported gender differences in coping preferences (e.g., Hammermeister & Burton, 2004; Nicholls, Polman, Levy, Taylor, & Cobley, 2007) whereas other studies did not find differences between male and female athletes in coping preferences (e.g., Bebetsos & Antoniou, 2003; Kowalski, Crocker, Hoar & Niefer, 2005). Also, as suggested by the mainstream psychology literature, personality has been considered to be a moderator factor that could influence each aspect of the stress-coping process. However, little is known about this relationship between personality and coping in sport. This is true for the basic dimensions of personality (The Big Five) and the sport specific personality trait mental toughness. An understanding about male and female coping preferences is essential from both an applied and theoretical perspective. For example, it would allow practitioners to develop gender specific programmes for males and females to cope more effectively with stress. Also, further knowledge into the relationship between personality and coping is required, in order to design effective intervention programmes that fit individual needs.

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