Julius Jooste

Self-harm and mental health disorders are increasingly prevalent among university students worldwide (Duffy et al., 2019), including emerging academic contexts such as South Africa (Bantjes et al.,...

Background: An estimated 61.2 million adults play golf worldwide, with approximately 139,000 golfers affiliated with clubs in South Africa. Despite golf’s popularity as a recreational activity, the path to professional status and its sustainment is reserved for a few who demonstrate exceptional skill and dedication. Recognising the existing gap in research regarding the developmental trajectory of tour professional golfers in South Africa, there is an increasing need to identify the key factors that promote their professional development in this unique context. This study addressed this gap by aiming to elucidate the key factors contributing to their development. Methods: The study employed a qualitative descriptive design using semi-structured interviews with a purposeful sample (N = 17) of male and female tour professional golfers ranked within the top 100 on the Sunshine Tour and Professional Golfers Association of South Africa (PGASA) teaching professionals. Results: Reflexive thematic analysis identified nine overarching themes as key factors contributing to professional development in golf, namely a supportive developmental environment, competition-specific training, career management, a team of professional staff, financial resources, physical conditioning, lifestyle habits, psychological and physiological proficiency, and course management. Conclusion: This study’s findings may inform the development of a golf-specific framework for professional development tailored to a holistic approach in preparing golfers for professional advancement, highlighting its potential to optimise performance outcomes.

Self-talk in sport is a valuable self-help tool for regulating one's emotions, thoughts, and actions. This study aimed to examine whether the use of in-the-moment, strategic self-talk enhances volleyball officials' efficacy beliefs about their refereeing decisions in match-play scenarios. The relationship between officials' general self-talk tendencies and commonly perceived refereeing efficacy in recent matches was also investigated. A between-subjects design powered by an online Qualtrics survey was employed to recruit 62 skilled volleyball officials (Mage = 54.69, SD = 13.15 years) who were randomly assigned to strategic self-talk (experimental) or unrelated pangram statements (control) groups. Before assessing two disputed match-play situations presented as video clips, the officials were instructed to verbally reaffirm three assigned statements. Officials were then asked to rate their confidence in the accuracy and fairness of their decisions in each scenario. They also completed the Automatic Self-Talk Questionnaire for Sports and the Referee Self-Efficacy Scales. The Mann-Whitney-U test found no significant variations in decision-making beliefs to the match-play scenarios between the groups. Further analyses revealed significant associations between the study variables with organic self-talk tendencies employed to "psych up" and convey "worry" to exert significant and opposing influences on various aspects of officials' refereeing self-efficacy. Despite these influences, it is recommended that experienced officials may already have a reservoir of experiential acumen and metacognitive skills, which may necessitate a more protracted engagement with self-talk methods under social evaluative conditions to perceive confidence shifts in volleyball decision-making.

Supporting organ transplant recipients' quality of life after surgery continues to be of interest to health researchers and applied practitioners. However, literature and guidance on the factors linked to quality of life in transplant recipient athletes remains underreported. This study aimed to identify significant predictors of quality of life in an international sample of organ transplant recipient athletes (N = 99, Mage = 53 +/- 14). Adopting a cross-sectional design, we collected the study data during the 2019 World Transplant Games which consisted of demographic items, health, and physical activity-related measures (i.e., task and ego orientation, fatigue severity, assessment of physical activity, physical activity enjoyment). Predictor variables were summarised into three categories: demographic factors, sport-related factors, and levels of fatigue with physical and mental quality of life functioning as the outcome variables. Hierarchical regression analyses exposed fatigue to exert a significant negative influence on both mental and physical quality of life perceptions explaining 49% and 64% of the variance in these variables respectively. Routine measurement and monitoring of transplant athletes' level of fatigue in sport settings are recommended due to the negative bearing on quality of life that may be a potential barrier to sport participation and enjoyment.

Notably, a lack of motivation appears as a significant contributing factor to physical inactivity, which raises one’s susceptibility to noncommunicable diseases. While research indicates a strong link between smartphone fitness applications (apps) and people’s motivational orientation towards physical activity and exercise, the theoretical basis of fitness app features for sustaining exercise routines remains unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of fitness apps as a behaviour modification tool on people’s motivation to maintain physical activity and exercise behaviour. Using individual semi-structured interviews, we collected detailed accounts from nine active male and female fitness app users ( M _age = 23.4 years, SD = 2.8). The findings of both inductive and deductive reflective thematic analysis revealed core themes emphasising that the use of fitness apps satisfies the participants’ psychological needs through fostering emotions of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Furthermore, fitness apps make it easier to track progress, challenge oneself, and compete against other exercisers, which further motivates participants to sustain their exercise behaviours. Confirming the use of fitness apps as an effective behaviour change tool for sustaining healthy exercise routines, the findings offer valuable feedback on specific app features for fitness software and wearable device developers that could potentially enhance the functionality and impact of their apps. Further discussions include limitations and areas for future research, such as discerning the role of fitness apps in sustaining motivation among diverse age groups with specific health, sport, or lifestyle goals in varying sensory, social, and affective contexts.