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The process of admission of, typically, older residents into long-term care (LTC) has been greatly examined from the perspectives of the residents and their family members/caregivers. However, the viewpoint of the administrative staff directly involved has been left relatively unexamined. This article highlights findings from a qualitative study focused on exploring the lived experiences of LTC administrative staff working with residents-to-be and families/caregivers during the admissions process. Data from semi-structured interviews with seven participants indicate that these individuals often take on roles/tasks that go beyond the scope of their official work descriptions. Participants acknowledged the heavy toll of the stressful nature of their work on their health/well-being, but often normalized the pressures as part of their professional, if not personal, responsibilities to help others. Recommendations on improving the admissions process highlighted the lack of critique of the LTC system, despite its responsibility for the challenges that shape their day-to-day work.

Sport is often touted by many as good for one’s health and well-being; in fact, Hippocrates is thought to have once said that “sport is the preserver of health.” And yet there is a substantial amount of scholarly research, across a range of disciplines, that problematizes this commonplace assumption. This chapter explores the central question: Is sport participation healthful for well-being? Organized in three parts, the chapter first examines key conceptual challenges associated with unpacking this question. For example, what do we mean when we refer to the concepts of sport, health, and well-being? The second section explores the challenges faced by critical social scientists in disrupting the commonplace notion of sport as good for one’s health, and the third section highlights the questions: Can contemporary sport be good for one’s health, and if so, how?

Policy scholars, both within and outside of sport, have pointed to trends that emphasise neoliberal and free market orientations within public sector organisations. Given such developments, this pa...

While research and scholarship on the dynamic interconnections between sport and health has steadily grown in the sociocultural study of sport in the past few decades, this paper focuses more directly on the politics of health within sport. Drawing on a small study of the lived experiences and understandings of health, pain/injury, risk and precaution among 12 male and female high performance youth (16–19 years of age) triathletes and three coaches, we outline the ways in which health becomes depoliticized among high performance athletes as our participants made no connection to health as a political phenomenon—within or outside of sport—or to their own right to health as members of the high performance sport community. We conclude by offering some suggestions as to why health was (and is) rendered apolitical in high performance youth triathlon.

Within mainstream cancer literature, policy documents, and clinical practice, “work” is typically characterized as being synonymous with paid employment, and the problem of work is situated within the “return to work” discourse. The work that patients perform in managing their health, care, and everyday life at times of illness, however, is largely overlooked and unsupported. Drawing on feminist political economy theory, we report on a qualitative study of 12 women living with cancer. Major findings show that the work of patienthood cut across multiple fields of practice and included both paid and unpaid labor. The most prevalent types of work included illness work, body work, identity work, everyday work, paid employment and/or the work of maintaining income, and coordination work. The findings of this study disrupt popular conceptualizations of work and illuminate the nuanced and often invisible work that cancer patients may encounter, and the health consequences and inequities therein.

This chapter explores the emergence, growth, and current status of the sociology of sport in Canada. Such an endeavour includes acknowledging the work and efforts of Canadian scholars – whether Canadian by birth or naturalization or just as a result of their geographic location – who have contributed to the vibrant and robust academic discipline that is the sociology of sport in Canadian institutions coast-to-coast, and who have advanced the socio-cultural study of sport globally in substantial ways. This chapter does not provide an exhaustive description and analysis of the past and present states of the sociology of sport in Canada; in fact, it is important to note that an in-depth, critical and comprehensive analysis of our field in Canada is sorely lacking. Rather, this chapter aims to highlight the major historical drivers (both in terms of people and trends) of the field in Canada; provide a snapshot of the sociology of sport in Canada currently; and put forth some ideas as to future opportunities and challenges for the field in Canada.

Researchers are increasingly examining the tenuous relationship between participation in high performance sport and health, and yet IOC-sanctioned and popular discourse around the Olympics remains replete with references to the supposed healthfulness of the Games. Using the 1968 Mexico City Games and the 2008 Bejing Games as bookends, this paper explores national and international media coverage of athletic performance in relation to health and well-being. Three central narratives emerged: (1) pain, perseverance, and the pervasiveness of the “culture of risk” in high performance sport; (2) the performance imperative in the face of the challenges and anxieties of the environment; and (3) the presence and emerging sophistication of sports sciences/scientists in determining health. Resume. Alors que les chercheurs examinent d’un oeil de plus en plus critique la relation tenue qui existe entre le sport de haute performance et la sante, les propos emanant du CIO et le discours populaire demeurent bondes de references au caractere bienfaiteur des Jeux pour la sante. Utilisant les Jeux de Mexico en 1968 et de Bejing en 2008, cet article explore la couverture mediatique nationale et internationale des performances athletiques en ce qui a trait a la sante et au bien-etre. Trois fils directeurs emergent: 1) la douleur, la perseverance et l’importance de la « culture du risque » dans le sport de haute performance; 2) l’imperatif de la performance devant les defis et les anxietes liees au milieu; et 3) la presence et la sophistication grandissante des sciences/scientifiques du sport.

Using a combination of archival research and semi-structured in-depth interviews, this study outlines the early development of sport medicine in Canada, from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s, in relation to the development of Canadian high performance sport during this period of time. I argue that the early development of sport medicine in Canada dovetailed with and benefited from the broader professionalization and rationalization of high performance sport, and that transformations in the production of international and national sport after the Second World War laid the foundation for the formalized and institutionalized entity we recognize today as sport medicine. These transformations were underpinned by the ideological re-centering of international high performance (specifically Olympic) sport from a moral and educational initiative to the all-out pursuit of sporting excellence that, in turn, was attentive to the claims of expertise from nascent sport medicine practitioners. The development of sport medicine is outlined from the late 1950s to the incorporation of the Sport Medicine Council of Canada (SMCC; later known as the Sport Medicine and Science Council of Canada, SMSCC) in 1978, and particular attention is paid to two turning points in the growth of sport medicine in Canada following initiatives to locate sport medicine in Canadian health and sport circles prior to the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games: a) the negative experiences of the Canadian contingent at the 1968 Games in contrast to; b) the provision and delivery of sport medicine at and following the 1976 Montréal Olympic Games.

This case study examines the relationship between the “culture of risk” and the negotiation of treatment between sport medicine clinicians and student-athletes at a large Canadian university. The evidence acknowledges that a “culture of risk” was reinforced under certain circumstances during negotiation, but was also tempered by the existence of a “culture of precaution” that worked to resist those influences. The dialectic between the cultures of risk and precaution reveals some of the tensions inherent in negotiations between clinicians and patient-athletes, and helps to complicate the notion of a “culture of risk.” Another aspect (one that has rarely if ever been examined) of the negotiation of treatment is also considered—the promotion of “sensible risks” by clinicians to injured athletes.

Sport and Social Movements: From the Local to the Global is the first book-length treatment of the way social movements have intersected and continue to intersect with sport. It traces the history of various social movements associated with labour, women, rights (civil, racial, disability and sexual), peace and the environment and their relationship to sport and sports mega-events such as the Olympic Games. Based on research conducted by a multinational team of authors, the book includes a valuable chronology of social movements, illustrations of key episodes in the development of the relationships between sport and different social movements and an agenda for future research and scholarship. Written in a clear and comprehensive style it is suitable for all levels of higher education, researchers and the general reader who want to know more about the role that sport has played in the development of social movements and campaigns for social justice.

Background Return-to-play (RTP) decision-making is required for every injured athlete. However, these decisions often lead to conflict between sport medicine professionals, athletes, coaches and sport associations. This study explores differences in professionals’ opinion about which criteria should be used for RTP decisions, and who is best able to evaluate them. Methods We surveyed Canadian sport medicine physicians, physiotherapists, athletic therapists, chiropractors, massage therapists, athletes, coaches and representatives from three sport associations. The 10 min online survey asked respondents to rate criteria as mandatory to irrelevant on a five-point Likert scale, and to indicate which profession was best able to evaluate the criteria. Results In general, medical doctors, physiotherapists and athletic therapists were considered best able to assess factors related to risk of injury and complications from injury. Each clinician group (except sport massage therapists) generally believed their own profession has the best capacity to evaluate the criteria. Athletes, coaches and sport associations were considered to have the best capacity to assess factors related to competition (desire, psychological and financial impact and loss of competitive standing). There remained considerable heterogeneity both between and within stakeholder groups. Conclusions We found that differences in approach to RTP decisions were generally greater within versus between-stakeholder groups. If shared decision-making is to become the norm in clinical sport medicine, we need to begin a discussion on which discrepancies are due to lack of training (resolved through education) or scientific knowledge (resolved through research) or simply reflect the divergence of personal/societal values.

1. Introduction: The Social Science of Sports Medicine Dominic Malcolm and Parissa Safai Part I: Sports Medicine Conceived 2. The Role of Physiology and Cardiology in the Founding and Early Years of the American College of Sports Medicine Jack W. Berryman 3. From Voluntarism to Specialization: Sports Medicine and the British Association of Sport and Medicine Neil Carter 4. From Rehabilitation Patients to Rehabilitating Athletes: Searching for a History of Sports Medicine for Athletes with Disabilities Fred Mason Part II: Sports Medicine Organized 5. Women Professional Athletes' Injury Care: The Case of Women's Football Joseph A. Kotarba 6. Public Health, Elite Sport and "Risky Behaviours" at the Canada Winter Games Victoria Paraschak 7. The Benefits and Challenges of Complementary and Alternative Medicines for Health-Care in Sport Elizabeth C.J. Pike 8. Challenges to the Implementation of a Rationalized Model of Sports Medicine: An Analysis in the Canadian Context Nancy Theberge Part III: Sports Medicine Practices 9. Docile Bodies or Reflexive Users? On the Individualization of Medical Risk in Sports Lone Friis Thing 10. Sports Medicine, Client Control and the Limits of Professional Autonomy Ivan Waddington 11. Making Compromises in Sports Medicine: An Examination of the Health-Performance Nexus in British Olympic Sports Andrea Scott 12. Sports Physicians and Doping: Medical Ethics and Elite Performance John Hoberman Part IV: Sports and Medicine Contested 13. Doctors Without Degrees Michael Atkinson 14. Pre-Participation Screenings in Sports: A Review of Current Genetic/Non-Genetic Test Strategies Arno Muller 15. Sports Medicine Beyond Therapy: Genetic Doping and Enhancement Yoshitaka Kondo and Mike McNamee

Alterglobalization is the name for a large spectrum of global social movements that present themselves as supporting new forms of globalization, urging that values of democracy, justice, environmental protection, and human rights be put ahead of purely economic concerns. This article develops a framework for the study of the influence of alterglobalization on sport by: outlining a periodization of social movements and sport; proposing a typology of responses to the politics of globalization; and proposing a typology of recent social movements associated with sport. The article does not report on an empirical research project, but provides a stock take of what has happened since the 1990s regarding the politics of globalization and the politics of sport, with specific reference to global social movements. The questions raised in this article include: What form do the movements challenging the world sports order today take? Does an alterglobalization movement exist in sport? What alternative models of sport do they propose? Un large spectre de mouvements sociaux se reclame de l’altermondialisme. Ces mouvements se presentent comme les promoteurs de nouvelles formes de mondialisation, mettant de l’avant l’idee que les valeurs de democratie, de justice, de respect de l’environnement, de droits humains, doivent prevaloir sur les considerations economiques. Cet article presente un cadre d’analyse pour l’etude de l’influence de l’altermondialisme sur le sport : en ebauchant une periodisation des mouvements sociaux en lien avec le sport; en proposant une typologie des reponses a la politique

People of South-Asian origin have an increased prevalence of coronary artery disease. Although cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is effective, South Asians are among the least likely people to participate in these programs. Automatic referral increases CR use and may reduce access inequalities. This study qualitatively explored whether CR referral knowledge and access varied among South-Asian patients. Participants were South-Asian cardiac patients receiving treatment at hospitals in Ontario, Canada. Each hospital refers to CR via one of four methods: automatically through paper or electronically, through discussion with allied health professionals (liaison referral), or through referral at the physician's discretion. Data were collected via interviews and analyzed using interpretive-descriptive analysis. Four themes emerged: the importance of predischarge CR discussions with healthcare providers, limited knowledge of CR, ease of the referral process for facilitators of CR attendance, and participants' needs for personal autonomy regarding their decision to attend CR. Liaison referral was perceived to be the most suitable referral method for participants. It facilitated communication between patients and providers, ensuring improved understanding of CR. Automatic referral may not be as well suited to this population because of reduced patient-provider communication.