Physical inactivity is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide, costing approximately US $67.5 billion per year to health care systems. To curb the physical inactivity pandemic, it is time to move beyond traditional approaches and engage citizens by repurposing sedentary behavior (SB)-enabling ubiquitous tools (eg, smartphones). The primary objective of the Saskatchewan, let's move and map our activity (SMART) Study was to develop a mobile and citizen science methodological platform for active living surveillance, knowledge translation, and policy interventions. This methodology paper enumerates the SMART Study platform's conceptualization, design, implementation, data collection procedures, analytical strategies, and potential for informing policy interventions. This longitudinal investigation was designed to engage participants (ie, citizen scientists) in Regina and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, in four different seasons across 3 years. In spring 2017, pilot data collection was conducted, where 317 adult citizen scientists (≥18 years) were recruited in person and online. Citizen scientists used a custom-built smartphone app, Ethica (Ethica Data Services Inc), for 8 consecutive days to provide a complex series of objective and subjective data. Citizen scientists answered a succession of validated surveys that were assigned different smartphone triggering mechanisms (eg, user-triggered and schedule-triggered). The validated surveys captured physical activity (PA), SB, motivation, perception of outdoor and indoor environment, and eudaimonic well-being. Ecological momentary assessments were employed on each day to capture not only PA but also physical and social contexts along with barriers and facilitators of PA, as relayed by citizen scientists using geo-coded pictures and audio files. To obtain a comprehensive objective picture of participant location, motion, and compliance, 6 types of sensor-based (eg, global positioning system and accelerometer) data were surveilled for 8 days. Initial descriptive analyses were conducted using geo-coded photographs and audio files. Pictures and audio files (ie, community voices) showed that the barriers and facilitators of active living included intrinsic or extrinsic motivations, social contexts, and outdoor or indoor environment, with pets and favorable urban design featuring as the predominant facilitators, and work-related screen time proving to be the primary barrier. The preliminary pilot results show the flexibility of the SMART Study surveillance platform in identifying and addressing limitations based on empirical evidence. The results also show the successful implementation of a platform that engages participants to catalyze policy interventions. Although SMART Study is currently geared toward surveillance, using the same platform, active living interventions could be remotely implemented. SMART Study is the first mobile, citizen science surveillance platform utilizing a rigorous, longitudinal, and mixed-methods investigation to temporally capture behavioral data for knowledge translation and policy interventions.

Sport is a domain that is rife with loss, failures, and disappointment. Self-compassion – the recognition of one’s own suffering and a desire to alleviate it – offers protection against maladaptive psychological experiences in sport. The purpose of this scoping review was to update and expand the results of the review by Röthlin and colleagues ([2019]. Go soft or go home? A scoping review of empirical studies on the role of self-compassion in the competitive sport setting. Current Issues in Sport Science, 4, Article 013. https://doi.org/10.15203/CISS_2019.013), and to identify new themes to help guide future research. Sixty-nine publications were identified using a variety of search strategies. Quantitative research (62.3%) and cross-sectional designs (83.3%) were most common, and most research was conducted by researchers residing in Westernized countries (81.2%). The majority of study participants (n = 10,025) were collegiate athletes (42.1%), and female/women sport participants were sampled slightly more frequently (52.4%). Researchers often investigated sex- or gender-based and competition level differences in self-compassion scores. Other common areas of research focus included well-being, mindfulness, striving for excellence, overcoming setbacks, negative thoughts and emotions, and self-criticism. New research areas that were identified included a need for theory, additional efforts towards conceptualization and measurement, acknowledgement of participant selection bias, integrating intersectionality, the relationship between self-compassion and performance, the distinctiveness between self-compassion and mindfulness, and future directions for interventions.

Understanding the personality characteristics that help and/or hinder competitive success in sport is of great interest to many sport psychology researchers. Grit (i.e. passion and perseverance towards long-term goals) is one such construct that has recently gained popularity in the sport domain. This scoping review explored the associations between grit and the cognitive, affective, and behavioural variables that reside within athletes and sport settings. Ninety publications were identified through various search strategies. The majority of studies explored relationships between grit and athlete sex, athlete skill/competitive level, sport performance, motivation, mindfulness, self-compassion, and deliberate practice. Constructs that have been previously critiqued as sharing significant variance with grit were also collated from the existing research. Six collegiate-level coaches were consulted as knowledgeable stakeholders and provided input to the results of the scoping review. These results allowed for the identification of future research considerations, including ameliorating current issues regarding grit measurement in sport contexts, and the designing and testing of interventions aimed at increasing athlete grit levels. Additional research with stronger methodological design and rigour is needed, and recommendations to enhance the quality of future studies with athletes are discussed.

Background: During adolescence, deselection from sport occurs during team try-outs when month of birth, stage of growth and maturation may influence selection. Aim: The purpose of this study was to identify differences in growth and maturity related factors between those selected and deselected in youth sports teams and identify short-term associations with continued participation. Subjects and methods: Eight hundred and seventy participants, aged 11–17 years, were recruited from six sports try-outs in Saskatchewan, Canada: baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer and volleyball. Two hundred and forty-four of the initial 870 (28%) returned for follow-up at 36 months. Chronological (years from birth), biological (years from age at peak height velocity (APHV)) and relative (month of birth as it relates to the selection band) ages were calculated from measures of date of birth, date of test, height, sitting height and weight. Parental heights were measured or recalled and participant’s adult height predicted. Reference standards were used to calculate z-scores. Sports participation was self-reported at try-outs and at 36-month follow-up. Results: There was an over-representation of players across all sports born in the first and second quartiles of the selection bands (p < 0.05), whether they were selected or deselected. z-scores for predicted adult height ranged from 0.1 (1.1) to 1.8 (1.2) and were significantly different between sports (p < 0.05). Height and APHV differences (p < 0.05) were found between selected and deselected male participants. In females only weight differed between selected and deselected female hockey players (p < 0.05); no further differences were found between selected and deselected female participants. Four per cent of deselected athletes exited sports participation and 68% of deselected athletes remained in the same sport at 36 months, compared with 84% of selected athletes who remained in the same sport. Conclusions: It was found that youth who attended sports team’s try-outs were more likely to be born early in the selection year, be tall for their age, and in some sports early maturers. The majority of both the selected and deselected participants continued to participate in sport 36 months after try-outs, with the majority continuing to participate in their try-out sport.

Sport participation can be a highly rewarding experience for young women. However, it can also involve unpleasant experiences such as failing to meet performance goals and threats to body image, which may detrimentally impact athletes’ well-being. Body image is salient for women in sport and can also be a source of suffering/challenge. Treating oneself with compassion has been suggested as a resource to buffer against negative outcomes of failure and inadequacy in sport. Body self-compassion may be especially relevant in sport as it consists of a kind and non-judgmental attitude towards the body despite perceived physical imperfections. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of body self-compassion in adolescent women athletes’ performance perceptions and emotional well-being. Seven women athletes (14–17 years old) participated in two, one-on-one semi-structured interviews and a journaling activity. Interviews and journal data were analyzed using a holistic approach to thematic analysis. Four themes were developed that capture the athletes’ perceived role of body self-compassion: (a) Compassion for and confidence in my body, (b) “Their’ thoughts and my body, (c) I will play to my potential, and (d) My strength is in my emotions. The women athletes explained that body self-compassion allows them to respect and treat their bodies with kindness; thus, positive emotions such as satisfaction with the body were strengthened and an adaptive focus placed on performance. These findings are consistent with the conceptualization of self-compassion and body self-compassion and suggest that being body self-compassionate may regulate emotions and sport performance perceptions.