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Team diversity enhances performance under extreme conditions: Why are mixed-gender teams a winning combination?
Abstracts / Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 20S (2017) 72–74
Respondents were asked whether the sponsored health message “fitted” the event and whether the sponsor was “sincere” about their sponsorship. Spectator engagement was measured through items related to their interest in the event, sport and their health. Results: Awareness of health messages was 72% amongst spectators attending a sport event with 28% intending to make a relevant behaviour change. Awareness of the sponsored health messages and behavioural intention was higher amongst spectators who had high event, sport and overall interest in their health. A path analysis revealed that behavioural intention was mediated by a perceived fit of the health message, which was in turn mediated by higher levels of event, sport engagement and interest in personal health. Discussion: The results suggest that higher levels of spectator engagement and perceived fit between the sponsor and event are being transferred to health messages and this is contributing to positive awareness and behavioural intention results. Similar to commercial sponsorships, the challenges of raising awareness in an increasingly crowded market appear to be enhanced by spectator engagement, and the perceived fit and sincerity of health messages. The results present new opportunities for health sponsorship to move beyond persuasion based communication strategies and build experiential and congruent leveraging approaches to promote healthy behaviours.
teams tend to adopt a pragmatic approach to managing female members’ lower physical strength (e.g., lower load carriage capacity) by shifting weight distribution, navigation and critical decision making across the team, drawing on women for clear thinking during moments of fatigue-induced indecision, etc. Participant accounts indicate that mixed teams do not protect women – they extract every competitive advantage from them they can (as they do with every other team member). Discussion: Adventure racing offers compelling evidence of tangible competitive advantage afforded by team diversity in the form of mixed-gender membership. As such, it is an attractive model to emulate in a range of high-performance settings – from emergency response and ambulance teams to law enforcement, national security and Defence operations. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2017.09.340 139 The impact of job-burnout on Australian Football League coaches: Mental health and well-being S. Ruddock 1,∗ , M. Ruddock-Hudson 1 , S. Rahimi-Golkhandan 2 1
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2017.09.339 138 Team diversity enhances performance under extreme conditions: Why are mixed-gender teams a winning combination? E. Aidman DST Group, Australia Background: Diversity as an equity-driven proposition is selfevident. Diversity as a performance enhancer is less obvious, though it has been shown to improve team performance and resilience in work settings, including genuine commercial advantage from increasing the number of women in key decision-making roles due to the subtle differences in decision making and influences on the group. Anecdotal evidence exist of competitive advantage that team diversity affords in extreme sports such as adventure racing – an ultra-endurance event where teams of four compete over a cross-country course using a combination of multiple disciplines. Massive cash prizes create incentives to squeeze all possible performance gains from each team member. Combined with extreme physical challenges of the course, this makes for an intuitive prediction that the competition should be dominated by all-male teams. Yet the records show the opposite: (1) most elite adventure racing teams around the world have included females; (2) the premier category in international adventure racing events is the mixed-gender category; (3) mixed gender teams have dominated the Word Championship podiums since 2001. Method: Literature review was conducted to identify the methods used by mixed-gender teams to generate their competitive advantage. Results: Whilst many adventure racing teams seek marginal physical gains, the elite teams tend to also pursue a cognitive edge (e.g., outsmarting the competition through sharp navigation, fatigue management and other tactical decisions). Top competitors tend to agree that women are critical to achieving a cognitive advantage in the race. In particular, women have been reported to be instrumental in protecting team dynamics (neutralising negative aspects of ego orientation, stoking competitive fire), for high tolerance for pain and willingness to burden share. Elite mixed
73
2
La Trobe University, Australia Cornell University, United States
Introduction: The evolution of the Australian Football League (AFL) has accelerated recently with major influence from the media, increased professionalism within the sport and promotion to a national competition. Some AFL coaches may flourish in their professional career while other coaches may have a less positive experience, resulting in the coach prematurely leaving the industry due to workplace pressures or job burnout. This places individuals within this distinctive cohort at risk for developing stress-related problems that may affect mental health and well-being. While qualitative research has identified links between burnout and poor health, the aim of this research was to corroborate this pertinent health issue using quantitative measures. Methods: 142 professional senior and assistant coaches from the Australian Football League were involved in the study (aged between 18 and 55 years). Participants were invited to complete a 15-minute online survey with questions relating to job stress, tension and burnout, and general health. The survey comprised three psychometric scales: (i) 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ); (ii) 22-item Maslach Burnout Inventory; and (iii) 21-item Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS). Responses were collated using Qualtrics Survey Software and transposed to SPSS for analysis. Results: There were significant correlations between MBI and DASS subscales. Emotional exhaustion Spearman’s ranges were from .40 (anxiety) to .57 (stress); depersonalization Spearman’s ranges from .29 (depression and anxiety) to .41 (stress); personal accomplishment Spearman’s ranges from −.31 (depression and anxiety) to −.22 (stress). Regression analyses using MBI sub-scales as predictors showed that emotional exhaustion was the only significant predictor of DASS sub-scales and DASS total. Emotional exhaustion uniquely predicted 33% of the variability in DASS total, 20% of depression, 12% of anxiety, and 28% of stress. There were no significant correlations between MBI sub-scales and GHQ-12 total. None of these sub-scales significantly predicted GHQ scores in the regression analysis. Discussion: Of the three aspects of job-burnout, only emotional exhaustion was found to predict poor levels of stress, anxiety and depression symptoms. Being emotionally overextended and exhausted within the football industry has been previously
Respondents were asked whether the sponsored health message “fitted” the event and whether the sponsor was “sincere” about their sponsorship. Spectator engagement was measured through items related to their interest in the event, sport and their health. Results: Awareness of health messages was 72% amongst spectators attending a sport event with 28% intending to make a relevant behaviour change. Awareness of the sponsored health messages and behavioural intention was higher amongst spectators who had high event, sport and overall interest in their health. A path analysis revealed that behavioural intention was mediated by a perceived fit of the health message, which was in turn mediated by higher levels of event, sport engagement and interest in personal health. Discussion: The results suggest that higher levels of spectator engagement and perceived fit between the sponsor and event are being transferred to health messages and this is contributing to positive awareness and behavioural intention results. Similar to commercial sponsorships, the challenges of raising awareness in an increasingly crowded market appear to be enhanced by spectator engagement, and the perceived fit and sincerity of health messages. The results present new opportunities for health sponsorship to move beyond persuasion based communication strategies and build experiential and congruent leveraging approaches to promote healthy behaviours.
teams tend to adopt a pragmatic approach to managing female members’ lower physical strength (e.g., lower load carriage capacity) by shifting weight distribution, navigation and critical decision making across the team, drawing on women for clear thinking during moments of fatigue-induced indecision, etc. Participant accounts indicate that mixed teams do not protect women – they extract every competitive advantage from them they can (as they do with every other team member). Discussion: Adventure racing offers compelling evidence of tangible competitive advantage afforded by team diversity in the form of mixed-gender membership. As such, it is an attractive model to emulate in a range of high-performance settings – from emergency response and ambulance teams to law enforcement, national security and Defence operations. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2017.09.340 139 The impact of job-burnout on Australian Football League coaches: Mental health and well-being S. Ruddock 1,∗ , M. Ruddock-Hudson 1 , S. Rahimi-Golkhandan 2 1
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2017.09.339 138 Team diversity enhances performance under extreme conditions: Why are mixed-gender teams a winning combination? E. Aidman DST Group, Australia Background: Diversity as an equity-driven proposition is selfevident. Diversity as a performance enhancer is less obvious, though it has been shown to improve team performance and resilience in work settings, including genuine commercial advantage from increasing the number of women in key decision-making roles due to the subtle differences in decision making and influences on the group. Anecdotal evidence exist of competitive advantage that team diversity affords in extreme sports such as adventure racing – an ultra-endurance event where teams of four compete over a cross-country course using a combination of multiple disciplines. Massive cash prizes create incentives to squeeze all possible performance gains from each team member. Combined with extreme physical challenges of the course, this makes for an intuitive prediction that the competition should be dominated by all-male teams. Yet the records show the opposite: (1) most elite adventure racing teams around the world have included females; (2) the premier category in international adventure racing events is the mixed-gender category; (3) mixed gender teams have dominated the Word Championship podiums since 2001. Method: Literature review was conducted to identify the methods used by mixed-gender teams to generate their competitive advantage. Results: Whilst many adventure racing teams seek marginal physical gains, the elite teams tend to also pursue a cognitive edge (e.g., outsmarting the competition through sharp navigation, fatigue management and other tactical decisions). Top competitors tend to agree that women are critical to achieving a cognitive advantage in the race. In particular, women have been reported to be instrumental in protecting team dynamics (neutralising negative aspects of ego orientation, stoking competitive fire), for high tolerance for pain and willingness to burden share. Elite mixed
73
2
La Trobe University, Australia Cornell University, United States
Introduction: The evolution of the Australian Football League (AFL) has accelerated recently with major influence from the media, increased professionalism within the sport and promotion to a national competition. Some AFL coaches may flourish in their professional career while other coaches may have a less positive experience, resulting in the coach prematurely leaving the industry due to workplace pressures or job burnout. This places individuals within this distinctive cohort at risk for developing stress-related problems that may affect mental health and well-being. While qualitative research has identified links between burnout and poor health, the aim of this research was to corroborate this pertinent health issue using quantitative measures. Methods: 142 professional senior and assistant coaches from the Australian Football League were involved in the study (aged between 18 and 55 years). Participants were invited to complete a 15-minute online survey with questions relating to job stress, tension and burnout, and general health. The survey comprised three psychometric scales: (i) 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ); (ii) 22-item Maslach Burnout Inventory; and (iii) 21-item Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS). Responses were collated using Qualtrics Survey Software and transposed to SPSS for analysis. Results: There were significant correlations between MBI and DASS subscales. Emotional exhaustion Spearman’s ranges were from .40 (anxiety) to .57 (stress); depersonalization Spearman’s ranges from .29 (depression and anxiety) to .41 (stress); personal accomplishment Spearman’s ranges from −.31 (depression and anxiety) to −.22 (stress). Regression analyses using MBI sub-scales as predictors showed that emotional exhaustion was the only significant predictor of DASS sub-scales and DASS total. Emotional exhaustion uniquely predicted 33% of the variability in DASS total, 20% of depression, 12% of anxiety, and 28% of stress. There were no significant correlations between MBI sub-scales and GHQ-12 total. None of these sub-scales significantly predicted GHQ scores in the regression analysis. Discussion: Of the three aspects of job-burnout, only emotional exhaustion was found to predict poor levels of stress, anxiety and depression symptoms. Being emotionally overextended and exhausted within the football industry has been previously