John Batten | University Of Winchester (original) (raw)

Papers by John Batten

Sport, Education and Society, 2024

The purpose of this study was to explore how the socio-cultural context impacts athletes living w... more The purpose of this study was to explore how the socio-cultural context impacts athletes living with persistent post-concussion syndrome (PPCS). Following interviews with 19 retired athletes with PPCS, a reflexive, thematic analysis was used to identify two main themes (Feeling Abandoned by Society, Support Encouraging Resilience), with each main theme having three sub-themes. Specifically, when feeling abandoned by society, the athlete with PPCS feels hopeless as socio- cultural stakeholders lack awareness, which can result in limited support and isolation. In contrast, when they feel supported, this leads to building resilience, with athletes with PPCS engaging in self- improvement and overcoming challenges. Awareness and advocacy further empower the athlete with PPCS and can result in more effective social, medical, and professional support. Therefore, our findings suggest that more support, including an early diagnosis, should be extended to athletes with PPCS, which could enable them to integrate their new identity into society more effectively. Moreover, our findings provide a call to action to promote awareness of PPCS and increased support like that currently extended to more visible conditions.

Sociological Research Online, 2024

North American attitudes are liberalizing toward sexual minorities. This is even found within tra... more North American attitudes are liberalizing toward sexual minorities. This is even found within traditionally conservative, masculine institutions, like fraternities, religion, and the military. However, evidence for Liberalization Theory is mostly derived from attitudinal change of sexual and gender majorities alongside policy changes, with less evidence from sexual and gender minority experiences. Thus, there remain questions as to whether, or to what degree, improved majority attitudes promote sexual minority experiences. To investigate the impact of liberalization of the masculine organizational culture of team sports, we used survey results from 793 openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) high school and collegiate athletes, representing 981 coming out experiences. We find that 92.5% of high school and 97.1% of college athletes’ coming out-of-the-closet to teammates experiences were deemed to be from neutral to perfect. We also found no significant differences in overall experience in being out to teammates in highly masculinized teams sports compared to other sports at either the high school or collegiate level. These results suggest that liberalizing North American sexual majority attitudes do translate into improved LGBT experiences within the socially conservative institution of educationally based team sports.

Journal of Science and Cycling, Jun 30, 2022

International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 2024

Many existing measures of adolescent wellbeing tend to overlook the perspectives of children and ... more Many existing measures of adolescent wellbeing tend to overlook the perspectives of children and are frequently one-dimensional or designed for specific contexts. We argue that a comprehensive assessment of wellbeing should cover multiple aspects of a child's wellbeing and that this cannot be done using a single dimension or a limited selection of items. This study aimed to develop and show the initial validation for the Winchester Adolescent Wellbeing Scale (WAWS). We adopted a personbased participatory approach where the inclusion of children's perspectives was used to define wellbeing and develop the structure of the scale. This ensured children's voices and experiences were central to the instrument's creation. The five-factor scale, validated with 422 adolescents aged 11-16, demonstrated robust model fit (RMSEA = 0.07, χ2/d.f. = 2.23, TLI = 0.91, CFI = 0.92) and internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha exceeding 0.8 across subdimensions). The WAWS has theoretical significance through incorporating adolescents' perspectives and offering a contextindependent and multifaceted wellbeing scale.

Brain Injury, 2023

Primary Objective: To investigate the effect of home and away game travel on risk of concussion a... more Primary Objective: To investigate the effect of home and away game travel on risk of concussion across different levels of rugby union.

Research Design: Exploration study across school, university, and professional rugby teams.

Methods and Procedures: Retrospective analysis of concussion incidence and symptomology of surveillance data and prospective data collection for potential concussions via surveys. Data was collected from school rugby teams (n = 344 matches, over 2 years), a university rugby (n = 6 matches), and a professional rugby team (n = 64 matches, over two seasons).

Main Outcomes and Results: School level rugby had an increased prevalence of concussions in away matches (p = 0.02). Likewise, there was a significant increase (p < 0.05) in concussions at away matches in university rugby. In addition, the professional rug by team had significant differences in recovery times and symptoms with away fixtures, including longer recovery times (p < 0.01), more initial symptoms (p < 0.01), as well as greater and more severe symptoms at 48 hours (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: This research highlights an increased prevalence of concussion in school and universityaged rugby players away from home, as well as increased symptoms, symptom severity, and recovery times in professional rugby players.

Injury Prevention

This article examines how ‘framing’ is used to resist a proposal to remove rugby tackling from UK... more This article examines how ‘framing’ is used to resist a proposal to remove rugby tackling from UK schools. It focuses on rugby tackling for UK school children, which is often a compulsory part of many schools’ curricula. Specifically, we explore the importance of framing in how the problem is described in various academic publications, how ideas about risk are articulated and how advocates themselves are represented. We show how the corporate interests of rugby governing bodies can become entangled with distortions about injury prevention. These distortions (or framing practices) include omitting arguments, conflating arguments, changing the argument, misrepresenting advocacy positions and skewing advocate identities. Next, the article demonstrates how a combination of recent advocacy, political interventions, research and cultural shifts appears to be changing perceptions about the risks associated with rugby tackling for children in school settings. In conclusion, we argue that wh...

Sport in Society

This article examines the influence of ethnicity on sporting men's attitudes towards homosexualit... more This article examines the influence of ethnicity on sporting men's attitudes towards homosexuality. We employed Herek's Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men, Revised Version (ATLG-R) scale to collect data with British undergraduate sports students, as well as interview data with the players of an English Premier League (EPL) football academy, to show that black and minority ethnic (BME) men espouse more conservative attitudes toward homosexuality than their White counterparts. This, we theorize, is attributable to multiple factors, such as socialization into a fundamentalist version of Christianity by family, and the influence of immigration from countries where attitudes toward homosexuality remain more conservative in comparison to the UK. In documenting these findings, this research is consistent with other studies which document higher rates of intolerance among groups of BME men.

Leisure Studies

If researchers are to understand the impacts of lockdown on children and young people, then the e... more If researchers are to understand the impacts of lockdown on children and young people, then the experiences of lockdown need to be explored from the perspective of the child. Young people participate in leisure for a multitude of reasons, yet, within the UK, children were largely unable to access their regular leisure activities for a six-month period during the first national lockdown. Within the context of this paper, leisure includes outdoor sports and physical activities within blue spaces. Following interviews with parents and young people (aged 11-16) focused on experiences of leisure during the Covid-19 pandemic, this qualitative study identified that children felt an intense sense of missing out on opportunities and found day-today life without leisure monotonous. However, there were some positive impacts of reduced leisure, such as a greater appreciation for what was once a regular activity. This research empowered the voice of children, so their distinct experiences were made visible to those who aim to support their wellbeing. Findings suggest that the promotion of leisure activities in the current climate could mitigate poor wellbeing among children associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Frontiers in Sports and Active Living

ObjectiveTo establish the extent to which Rugby Union was a compulsory physical education activit... more ObjectiveTo establish the extent to which Rugby Union was a compulsory physical education activity in state-funded secondary schools in England and to understand the views of Subject Leaders for Physical Education with respect to injury risk.MethodA cross-sectional research study using data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) from 288 state-funded secondary schools.ResultsRugby Union was delivered in 81% (n = 234 of 288) of state-funded secondary school physical education curricula, including 83% (n = 229 of 275) of state-funded secondary school boys' and 54% (n = 151 of 282) of girls' physical education curricular. Rugby Union was compulsory in 91% (n = 208 of 229) of state-funded secondary schools that delivered it as part of the boys' physical education curriculum and 54% (n = 82 of 151) of state-funded secondary schools that delivered contact Rugby Union as part of the girls' physical education curriculum. Subject Leaders for Physical Education a...

Youth

The current study explored how young females who compete in aesthetic sports adopt self-presentat... more The current study explored how young females who compete in aesthetic sports adopt self-presentation strategies on social media. Data from semi-structured interviews with 10 collegiate female trampolinists (aged 19–24 years) were analyzed through reflective thematic analysis, and six themes were generated; self-analysis, the best you, emotional consequences, judgment, social media perceptions, and acceptance. Framed around these themes, creative nonfiction techniques were employed to present the results as an ethnodrama. Findings illustrated how participants demonstrated a high need to present their “best self”, as failure to do so results in fear of judgment, extreme self-criticism, and, subsequently, post-prevention. Moreover, participants used upward social comparisons, and when they felt they did not match the ‘thin ideal’, often made negative associations between weight gain and attractiveness. This study contributes to body image literature by demonstrating a more detailed und...

International Journal of Modern Education Studies

Debates surrounding youth participation in governance have permeated a range of fields in the las... more Debates surrounding youth participation in governance have permeated a range of fields in the last two decades. This commentary is predominately situated in education and civic participation domains, with sporting domains remaining largely under researched. Indeed, this research becomes sparser when considered in school physical education and sport. In this paper, we consider the position of the student within decision-making processes in the physical education curriculum in English secondary state-schools. The paper reports on survey data from 288 English secondary state-schools exploring students’ involvement in decision-making related to the PE curriculum. Findings show considerable numbers of the schools reported no contribution from students to the physical education curriculum (n=54), and processes that were in place were problematic. Drawing on the legal framework of The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, we argue that the lack of student voice in the physical educatio...

Academia Letters, 2021

Until recently, there has been a lack of significance placed on concussion in association footbal... more Until recently, there has been a lack of significance placed on concussion in association football, particularly in mainstream media coverage. Contemporary incidents and research show that traumatic brain injuries, which may result in neurodegenerative disease, are common in football, but remain poorly understood. However, following the deaths of several heroised FIFA World Cup winning footballers, as well as a serious head injury to two players in 2020, a noticeable shift in media attitudes towards concussion and head injuries in sport has been detected.

Communication & Sport, 2021

Rugby union, alongside other collision and contact sports, faces ever mounting pressure from incr... more Rugby union, alongside other collision and contact sports, faces ever mounting pressure from increased recognition of concussive injuries and the risks they present to athletes, both in the short-term and long-term. Here, the media is a central component of increasing pressure for cultural change. This research analysed data from 524 self-selected survey respondents to examine rugby union fans’ and stakeholders’ perceptions of media portrayal of concussion and how it might influence their own perceptions. We found evidence of a complex and heterogenous relationship between perceptions of masculinity, views and attitudes toward mass media, and degree of involvement in rugby union. Specifically, partisans of the sport generally saw mass media as hostile, with coverage biased against rugby, allowing them to manufacture doubt regarding risk information, as well as maintaining involvement in the sport. We conclude that critical commentaries from the media have the ability to challenge ma...

British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2020

In order to make a good first impression, lecturers’ need to understand how students draw conclus... more In order to make a good first impression, lecturers’ need to understand how students draw conclusions about what they can or do expect based on their initial impressions. While these first impressions are not unchangeable, creating a good first impression can be highly influential to the development of effective student-lecturer relationships. Thus, the ideas and evidence presented herein give lecturers’ a framework broadly relating to verbal and non-verbal cues so that they can make deliberate decisions about how to present themselves in professional environments.

The Qualitative Report, 2021

This qualitative study involved in-depth interviews with 15 family members (mainly partners and c... more This qualitative study involved in-depth interviews with 15 family members (mainly partners and children) of deceased athletes who experienced deterioration in their neurological health towards the end of their life. The purpose of this study was to examine the stressors these family members experienced with the ailed players, their emotional responses to their family member’s condition, as well as the coping strategies they used. Vertical and horizontal thematic analyses were conducted on the data, which revealed five distinct temporal stages, a range of emotional responses, as well as accompanying stressors and coping strategies at each temporal stage. The findings are presented as an ethnodrama, capturing the lived experiences of participants. This ethnodrama aims to resonate with those caring for family members who are experiencing deteriorating neurological health, while also raising awareness of the various emotional responses of the individuals in these situations, as well as...

Journal for the Study of Sports and Athletes in Education, 2021

While sport has traditionally been a hostile environment for gay men, attitudes toward homosexual... more While sport has traditionally been a hostile environment for gay men, attitudes toward homosexuality among youth in the West have changed significantly in recent years. This research uses Herek’s Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale, Revised Version (ATLG-R) to investigate attitudes toward homosexuality among 243 undergraduate male students in the UK. Overall, results revealed no significant differences in student attitudes toward gay men in the first three years of data collection, but significantly more positive attitudes onward from the fourth. Overall, incoming attitudinal dispositions of homophobia among young male student-athletes were minimal. Anderson’s notion of inclusive masculinities is used to explain these findings, with the results supporting existing literature concerning positive attitudes toward homosexuality among young, sporting men in the UK

Communication & Sport, 2020

Concussion is a growing issue within sport, including within soccer. Despite the developing medic... more Concussion is a growing issue within sport, including within soccer. Despite the developing medical understanding of concussion, there is still an array of sociocultural discourses and misconceptions around it. In the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final, Liverpool Football Club goalkeeper Loris Karius suffered a head collision in the 48th minute. Postmatch, he was subsequently diagnosed as being concussed. As a result of his concussion, Karius’ performance was arguably impeded, with suggestions that this may have resulted in him making some key errors in the game. Through an analysis of media framing in 52 news articles in the days following the incident, four dominant frames were identified: deflection away from concussion, misunderstanding concussion, education on concussion, and recommendations. Frames that focussed on the lack of awareness and preventative measures that are present in soccer served to highlight the lack of significance afforded to concussion at this particular poin...

Sport, Education and Society, 2019

In contemporary British society, discussions of social class have become relatively marginalised ... more In contemporary British society, discussions of social class have become relatively marginalised in comparison to their historically eminent position within the domains of politics, social policy and, the specific focus of the forthcoming discussion, education. However, within the specific field of PE and sport, contemporary academic analyses have continued to highlight various class-based inequalities and evidence of social stratification in relation to these areas of