This project examines imagery use and its effect on basketball free throw shooting. It analyzes the literature on imagery and free throw shooting, in order to understand the actual effects that imagery has when used with free throwing shooting.

The purpose of this study is to look at selected sexual attitudes, beliefs, and sexual health practices among adolescent and young adult males. Specifically, the study examines adolescent and young adult males' sexual development and experiences, contraceptive use, sexually transmitted disease (STD) prevention practices, and, to a limited extent, public health clinic utilization.

It is well established in the literature that the morbidity and mortality rates due to chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, hypertension, and diabetes in the U.S are alarmingly high. Likewise, there is ample data which demonstrates that participating in physical activity can help prevent and control many types of chronic diseases. Though the benefits outweigh the risks of participation in physical activity, the risks must be acknowledged. Published standards and guidelines in the health fitness field have been established to address operational practices of fitness facilities, increase safety of participants and mitigate these risks. The present study was a national investigation conducted to determine adherence to published standards and guidelines for self- and professionally-guided pre-activity health screening procedures (PHSP) across various settings (i.e., Hospital/Clinical, Community, Commercial, Corporate, University, Government). Additionally, this study obtained perspectives from study participants regarding familiarity with, importance of adherence to and legal liability associated with published standards and guidelines. As the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) is considered the gold standard in health and fitness, only ACSM's published standards and guidelines, specifically those related to pre-activity health screening, were included in the present study. A survey instrument was developed and validated to obtain the data for this study. The link for the web-based survey was sent from the ACSM's Certification Department to all ACSM Health Fitness Specialists (HFS) who lived in the US (n=9,433); a total of 1,246 (13.2%) responded to the survey. The survey instrument consisted of 54 questions including 14 participant related (i.e., Q1, Q3, Q34-Q45), 32 facility related (i.e., Q2, Q4-Q33, Q46), seven demographic related (Q47-Q53), and one open-ended question (Q54). Exclusion criteria removed any HFS who was not currently working part- or full-time in a fitness facility, which left 677 usable responses for data analysis. Special measures were taken to remove duplicate responses for any given facility which resulted in a lower number of usable responses (n=656) for those 32 questions. As hypothesized, the Hospital/Clinical setting had significantly (p<.006) higher percentages of fitness facilities (93%) which require new participants to complete a pre-activity screening device than all other settings (i.e., University (56%), Community (54%), Commercial(40%), and Government (67%)). Additionally, the Hospital/Clinical setting was also found to be significantly higher than Corporate relative to this same variable. Regarding the second research hypothesis, the Corporate setting was found to have significantly (p<.006) higher percentages (78%) of fitness facilities which require new participants to complete a pre-activity screening device than the Community setting. Twenty-six percent of respondents indicated they their facility conducted self-guided, 43% professionally guided, and 31% offered both self- and professionally-guided PHSP. High percentages of fitness facilities (73%) required new participants to complete a pre-activity screening device with 47% and 87% of these facilities requiring medical clearance for at-risk new participants for self- and professionally-guided screening procedures, respectively. At-risk was defined in the study as someone with known disease (e.g., cardiac, pulmonary or metabolic) or with signs/symptoms and/or risk factors associated with cardiac, pulmonary, or metabolic disease. Also, participants with other medical conditions (e.g., pregnancy, orthopedic injury) may be considered at- risk. The majority (86%) of facilities offered personal training and nearly all of these (99.6%) required clients of personal trainers to complete a pre-activity screening device. Additionally, 84% of these facilities required medical clearance for at-risk clients. Data regarding other aspects of PHSP for facilities were also obtained such as frequency of completion for participants, privacy, confidentiality, and security of information obtained, participant refusal to complete, and waivers for guests. Regarding their familiarity, 69% of respondents indicated that they were very familiar with the ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription (ACSM's GETP); however only 52% indicated they used the ACSM's GETP for development and implementation of their facility's PHSP. Of these facilities, the results regarding the inclusion of the GETP criteria on their screening device were: (a) 96%, 91%, 87% for known CV, pulmonary and metabolic disease, respectively, (b) 44-95% for each of the nine signs/symptoms with dizziness/syncope the highest (95%) and intermittent claudication the lowest (44%), and (c) 64%- 99% for each of the nine CV risk factors with smoking the highest (99%) and high-density lipoprotein the lowest (64%). Although 52% of respondents reported more than adequate academic preparation, 70% reported being very confident in conducting professionally-guided pre-activity health screening procedures and that adherence to published standards and guidelines was very important. However, only 28% of respondents reported more than adequate academic preparation regarding legal implications involving PHSP. Other data from the HFSs regarding PHSP were also obtained such as their perspectives of the importance to management to adhere to and familiarity with published standards and guidelines as well as their knowledge of legal issues related to PHSP. In the open-ended question, respondents provided comments and challenges (n=509) that they encountered while conducting PHSP. These data were analyzed, coded and then categorized into three major themes: 1) medical clearance related issues, 2) administrative/procedural related issues, 3) member related issues. Compared to previous research, adherence to published standards and guidelines, as evidenced by the percentage of facilities which require new participants and clients of personal trainers to complete a pre-activity screening device, seems to be generally increasing. Additionally, relative to the requirement of medical clearance for personal training clients also seems to demonstrate an upward trend. However, the requirement of medical clearance for at-risk new participants remains about the same as previous studies (ranging from 49%-82% of the facilities) and the current study (47% for self-guided and 87% for professionally-guided). For facilities that were not conducting PHSP (27%), the major reasons why were reinforced by the comments to the open-ended question and were similar to those found in a previous study that investigated the same. The findings from this study indicated that there are areas that may need to be addressed within the profession to help increase adherence to published standards and guidelines especially in Community, Commercial, University, and Government settings. For example, these facilities might need a more simplified approach and additional guidance from the ACSM for more effectively and efficiently conducting PHSP. Additionally, academic programs could contribute by more comprehensively integrating PHSP into courses and practical learning opportunities for students. Given the importance of conducting PHSP, future research in PHSP focused on issues specific to individual settings may help establish the framework and provide direction for stakeholders to address this relevant issue in the field.

Background: Hispanics are the largest minority group in the U.S. and by the year 2060 the number of Hispanics is projected to double. They are disproportionately affected by obesity and chronic diseases which translate into decreased quality of life, loss of work opportunities and perceptions of injustice for the Hispanic population. The Dietary Guidelines (DG) provide information to help Americans make healthy food and physical activity choices and if followed can be a means of reducing the health disparity gap. However, culturally relevant recommendations specific to Hispanics’ health and nutritional habits are often lacking. The purpose of this study was to examine Hispanics’ knowledge, perceptions, benefits and barriers to the recommendations in the DG for Americans, Choose MyPlate, and the Department of Health and Human Services physical activity guidelines. Methods: A qualitative research design was used. Focus groups were conducted in Spanish and audiotapes were transcribed and then, translated into English. Thematic analysis was used to identify different key concepts subgrouping these topics according to common emergent themes. Results: A total of 24 participants took part in the study. Participants viewed healthy eating in terms of portion sizes. They viewed the DG as helpful but felt they needed more information to follow the guidelines. Several barriers were identified in following the MyPlate: lack of availability of healthy, fresh, inexpensive grocery options in Hispanic neighborhoods. Participants described the benefits of physical activity as related to improved mental health and quality of life such as looking and feeling better. Conclusion and Implications: Promoting nutrition education that is culturally and linguistically appropriate for Hispanics might help facilitate the adoption of the DG and MyPlate recommendations. Also, improving the design of existing low-income neighborhoods is still a challenge to improve participation in physical activity among Hispanics’.

Parents provide a social learning environment where family nutrition, eating habits and physical activity are largely influenced by and correlated with parental modeling of these behaviors. Increasing self-efficacy is an important component in parents being role models because theoretically, it promotes cognitive change that supports their confidence and ability to modify behaviors that contributes to healthier family practices and biometric outcomes. Phase one of this sequential two-phase study used biometric data (body mass index [BMI], cholesterol, glucose, and blood pressure) from parents (N = 37) participating in their employer’s family wellness initiative as dependent variables. Parental perceptions of nutrition, eating habits, and physical activity related to self-efficacy and role modeling collected via a survey questionnaire served as the independent variables. Correlation analysis indicated significant associations between BMI and nutrition self-efficacy, eating habits self-efficacy and eating habits role modeling. Linear regression analysis showed that nutrition self-efficacy and eating habits role modeling were significant predictors of BMI. A repeated measures t test revealed statistically, attending the family health and weight management program may help participants reduce their BMI, cholesterol, and diastolic blood pressure readings. Phase two used multiple cases (parents, n = 12) that were selected for interviews using purposeful sampling based on their scores reflecting high and low ranges on the self-efficacy and role modeling subscales from the surveys. Each interview was transcribed, coded using the constant comparative method, and individually analyzed for themes. Cross-case synthesis was used to analyze all the cases for commonality and variations. As a result of the findings, participants may be inclined to continue participating in wellness programs because the employer provides opportunities to assist families in their efforts to build confidence and demonstrate role modeling behaviors. The correlations and predictive results in phase one may help substantiate the benefits of participating in the program. Findings from phase two indicated parents acknowledged their role as leaders in creating environments that assist their families in establishing healthy behaviors and voluntarily engaged in this program because it provided assistance and projected them in the right direction for their family to be successful with health and weight management concerns.

Na presente dissertação discute-se o profissional de Educação Física formado na Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades da Universidade de São Paulo. Por meio de uma pesquisa exploratória, com interpretação qualitativa, traçou-se um paralelo entre a estrutura curricular do curso e o Projeto Político-Pedagógico, para estabelecer equivalência com as disciplinas, os projetos, os grupos de pesquisa, as ações de extensão e a vivência cotidiana no curso Bacharelado em Educação Física e Saúde. Como parâmetro utilizou-se a Portaria GM Nº 154 de 24 de janeiro de 2008, que criou o NASF, para a escolha das palavras-chave na construção das categorias que balizaram o curso, na tentativa de compreender se o profissional formado atende as demandas conceituais e práticas da relação SUS/Saúde/Educação Física. Diante da inserção de profissionais de Educação Física nas equipes dos sistemas de saúde, ocorreu a expectativa de repensar a formação deste profissional e, fez-se, portanto, a pergunta: \'Que profissional de Educação Física queremos para atuar no SUS?\'. Dentre as 70 disciplinas do curso de Bacharelado em Educação Física e Saúde, obrigatórias e optativas eletivas, apenas 6 não contemplaram os critérios estabelecidos em seus objetivos ou resumos com os termos do NASF. Tendo em vista esta colocação, pode-se inferir que há alinhamento junto ao Projeto Político-Pedagógico para a formação e atuação do profissional de Educação Física e Saúde para a área da saúde pública. Com a análise questiona-se o programa oficial, o que não proporciona diretamente o aprofundamento sobre o aluno, pois, este pode não escolher as disciplinas optativas ou mesmo não optar pelo estágio no SUS, assim como nas disciplinas de formação ativa, escolher temas que não têm nenhuma relação com saúde. No entanto, com base nos resultados obtidos nesse estudo, acredita-se que o curso avança no sentido de proporcionar potencialidades na área da saúde voltada aos objetivos do SUS, mas este avanço só se fortalecerá caso haja investimento público em contratar profissionais de Educação Física / In the present dissertation, we talk about the Physical Education professional graduated from School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities, University of São Paulo. Through an exploratory research with a qualitative interpretation, we compared the curricular structure of the course to the political-educational process to establish an equivalence for the disciplines, the projects, the research groups, extension actions and the daily experience from the Bachelor of Health and Physical Education course. As a baseline, it was adopted the \"Portaria GM Nº 154\" from January, 24th, 2008, which created NASF, on the keywords triage for the categories constructions which defined the course, in the attempt to understand if the graduated professional meets the conceptual and practical requirements demanded by the complex relationship between SUS, Health and Physical Education. With the Physical Education professional insertion in healthcare groups, it has emerged an expectation to rethink this professionals education, so, we should ask ourselves: \'Which Physical Education professional we want to have in an important role on SUS?\'. Among the 70 disciplines of Bachelor of Health and Physical Education course (including all mandatory and elective subject areas), only 6 of them do not contemplate the requirements established on their objectives regarding NASF\'s terms. So, we can imply through those facts that it does exist an alignment with the political-education project to impact the formation and the acts of the Health and Physical Education professional on public health. With this analysis, we aim to enquire the official program, which doesn\'t directly provide any further development about the student, because he can choose to reject the elective disciplines or even to not make the SUS internship, as well as choose subjects that don\'t have any correlation with healthcare. However, based on the results of this study, the course advance in providing potentialities, oriented to the SUS healthcare objectives, what would only thrive if we have more public investment to hire those Health and Physical Education professionals

Planning for and management of athletic education facilities -- Grades K-12.

This project is a plan whereby Summit Intermediate School will implement a new fitness and health oriented curriculum. The Prudential Fitnessgram will be utilized as the change vehicle through which students will face a variety of fitness activities, assessments, and goal setting opportunities during physical education class.

No description available.

The purpose of this project is to review literature on creatine monohydrate (simply known as creatine/Cr) supplementation and its effects on exercise, human performance, and health. Included in this project is basic information relating to the biochemical and physiological effects of Cr, including possible side effects.