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  Supporting the supporters: Examining how to assist parents as they support their child’s participation in sport (ref: SF24/HLS/SER/MCCULLOGH)


   Faculty of Health and Life Sciences

  ,  Applications accepted all year round  Self-Funded PhD Students Only

About the Project

Pre, post and during sport competition, parents may support, encourage or even console their child, but there is limited research examining best practice for this (Knight, 2019). Drawing on the large corpus of coaching literature, motivational frameworks will be used in this project to develop guidance for parents, e.g. autonomy support, relatedness and task orientation (Holt & Knight, 2014).

To date, there has been limited research which has examined the impact of parental involvement strategies/programmes (e.g. Dorsch et al., 2017; Thrower et al., 2017; Thrower et al., 2018). Such studies have focused on tennis and soccer in the UK and USA, and have mainly discussed support before or after competition. There is, therefore, a need to examine how parents support children in other sports including where parents are present during competition. Additionally, previous studies have used workshops to disseminate parenting advice, but attendance has been problematic (Knight, 2019). Therefore, examining alternatives for supporting parents is needed.

This project will adopt a mixed methods approach addressing the following questions:

Phase 1: What are parents’ experiences and behaviours/practices of supporting their children pre, post and during competition and training, and how can they be supported?

Study 1. Mixed methods study employing quantitative and qualitative observational methods (e.g. adaptation of the Multidimensional Motivational Climate Observation System (Smith et al., 2017) and field notes during competitions/training), with follow-up interviews.

Study 2. Systematic review of research examining the effectiveness of educational interventions for parents across several disciplines, e.g. sport, education, health.

Phase 2: What are the effects of an intervention to support parents (developed based on the research above) on parents’ and athletes’ psychological outcomes?

Studies 3-4. Design, implementation and evaluation of a longitudinal intervention study. Assessed by measuring psychological outcomes in control and intervention groups (Study 3), and using follow-up focus groups to discuss the impact of the intervention and how it could be used more widely (Study 4).

Academic Enquiries

This project is supervised by Dr Nicola McCullogh. For informal queries, please contact . For all other enquiries relating to eligibility or application process please use the email form below to contact Admissions. 

Eligibility Requirements:

•         Academic excellence i.e. 2:1 (or equivalent GPA from non-UK universities with preference for 1st class honours); or a Masters (preference for Merit or above); or APEL evidence of substantial practitioner achievement.

•         Appropriate IELTS score, if required.

•         Applicants cannot apply if they are already a PhD holder or if currently engaged in Doctoral study at Northumbria or elsewhere.

To be classed as a Home student, candidates must:

•         Be a UK National (meeting residency requirements), or

•         have settled status, or

•         have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or

•         have indefinite leave to remain or enter.

If a candidate does not meet the criteria above, they would be classed as an International student.  

Applicants will need to be aware of the following additional costs that may be incurred, as these are not covered by the studentship.

·           Immigration Health Surcharge https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigration-application

·           If you need to apply for a Student Visa to enter the UK, please refer to https://www.gov.uk/student-visa. It is important that you read this information carefully as it is your responsibility to ensure that you hold the correct funds required for your visa application, otherwise your visa may be refused.

·           Costs associated with English Language requirements which may be required for students not having completed a first degree in English, will not be paid by the University.

For further details on how to apply see

https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research-degrees/how-to-apply/   

In your application, please include a research proposal of approximately 1,000 words and the advert reference (e.g. SF24/…).

Deadline for applications: Year Round

Start date of course: Standard cohort dates are 1st March and 1st October

Northumbria University is committed to creating an inclusive culture where we take pride in, and value, the diversity of our postgraduate research students. We encourage and welcome applications from all members of the community. The University holds a bronze Athena Swan award in recognition of our commitment to advancing gender equality, we are a Disability Confident Leader, a member of the Race Equality Charter and are participating in the Stonewall Diversity Champion Programme. We also hold the HR Excellence in Research award for implementing the concordat supporting the career Development of Researchers and are members of the Euraxess initiative to deliver information and support to professional researchers.

Education (11) Psychology (31) Sport & Exercise Science (33)

Funding Notes

Home and International students (inc. EU) are welcome to apply on a self-funded basis. Fee information including fee bands can be found at View Website


Please also see further advice on additional costs that may apply to international applicants.



References

Dorsch, T. E., King, M. Q., Dunn, C. R., Osai, K. V., & Tulane, S. (2017). The impact of evidence-based parent education in organized youth sport: A pilot study. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 29(2), 199–214.
Holt, N. L., & Knight, C. J. (2014). Parenting in youth sport: From research to practice. Routledge.
Knight, C. J. (2019). Revealing findings in youth sport parenting research. Kinesiology Review, 8(3), 252–259.
Thrower, S. N., Harwood, C. G., & Spray, C. M. (2017). Educating and supporting tennis parents: An action research study. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 9(5), 600–618.

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