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This study aimed to explore the temporal relationships between psychological states and performance among players in the National Hockey League (NHL). We used an intensive longitudinal design, with 22 players reporting their psychological states daily between 7 February 2024, and 14 March 2024. Performance was measured using Game Score (GS), a composite metric based on weighted performance variables to provide an overall objective measure of individual performance, commonly used by teams in the NHL. Bayesian multilevel models were utilised to analyse the data, focusing on temporal effects between psychological states and performance. The results showed that none of the other psychological states predicted subsequent performance. In the opposite direction, performance predicted several different psychological states the following day, where better performance positively predicted positive states and negatively predicted negative states. In summary, psychological states appear to have a small effect on how NHL players perform, whereas how they perform seem to affect a wide range of psychological states the following day.

This study explores leadership in public sector automation, considering how contextual characteristics in two Swedish municipalities interact with the evolution of leadership. Through qualitative analysis of semistructured interviews with leaders and employees in elder care, we examine leadership skills and behaviors understood as crucial for implementing medicine robots. Grounded in reflexive thematic analyses, we present six themes: (1) Tech openness, (2) Optimism toward change, (3) Collaborative coordination, (4) Training and support, (5) Instrumental understanding, and (6) Operational feedback. The main findings illustrate how leadership skills, including cultivating optimism, engaging with technology and fostering collaboration, were considered essential. While proactive leadership was limited, knowledgeable and supportive leadership was apparent. Behaviors understood as supportive included communicating purpose and providing timely education. Leadership is vital in automation implementations, requiring skills to address complexities of human–technology interaction and balancing enthusiasm for automation with strategic foresight and deep understanding of the public sector context.

Background: Formal coach development programs (CDPs) are central to national sports accreditation systems, yet little is known about the implementation fidelity of introductory, policy-based coaching courses. Although such programs follow standardized curricula, variations in delivery and reception are common, shaped by educators’ interpretations, differing levels of implementation preparedness, logistical constraints, and the diverse backgrounds of coach learners.

Purpose: This study applied the conceptual framework for implementation fidelity (Carroll et al. 2007. “A Conceptual Framework for Implementation Fidelity.” Implementation Science 2 (1): 1–9) to examine a nationwide introductory formal CDP delivered within a national ice hockey association. It investigated educators’ self-reported engagement with and adherence with the program protocol, and on perceived barriers and enablers as experienced by both educators and coach learners. The study also considered how fidelity frameworks capture implementation realities in structured yet context-sensitive to coach education settings.

Methods: A process evaluation with a partial mixed methods design was used to investigate delivery across four geographical regions (i.e. north, south, east, west) within the national ice hockey association. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected via self-report checklists and semi-structured interviews with educators (N = 8) and coaches (N = 11). Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively, and qualitative data using a codebook thematic analysis.

Results: Checklist findings indicated protocol adherence and active coach engagement in general, although some coaches had difficulties understanding elements of the content. However, some educators reported that they did not cover all their assigned materials due to content–and time-related deviations. Qualitative findings expanded on these results, identifying key implementation-related barriers (e.g. limited content individualization, time constraints on delivery) and enablers (e.g. collaborative peer learning, balancing fidelity of form and function).

Conclusion: This study addresses a recognized gap by evaluating the implementation process of a formal CDP, emphasizing the importance of understanding factors that hinder or support fidelity and participant engagement. The findings provide practical insights for enhancing educator preparation, increasing program adaptability to coach learners’ needs, and supporting implementation fidelity in future formal CDPs.

Impact statement: By integrating the perspectives of both educators and coach learners, this study offers a nuanced understanding of the barriers and enablers of participating in a national formal CDP. The findings provide actionable guidance for policymakers and program designers seeking to align policy expectations with delivery realities through improved onboarding, educator support, and adaptable learning structures. In doing so, this study highlight the potential of structured yet flexible delivery models to support both policy goals and learner-centered practice within national sport systems.

Objectives Sport injuries in youth sports are common, and holistic predictive approaches have been called for to better understand how combinations of risk and protective factors contribute to injury occurrence. This study utilises a person-centred approach to identify how combinations of psychological and physical factors are associated with injuries in youth floorball players.

Methods At season start, 222 youth athletes conducted physical field tests and measures of self-reported mental health and demographics. Postseason, participants reported any sustained acute or overuse injuries during the season. Latent profile analysis, using psychological (anxiety and depression) and physical (field test performance) factors, such as input variables, was employed to identify risk profiles. Covariate analysis was conducted with demographic predictors of profile membership. Finally, sport injury occurrence was compared between profiles.

Results Three profiles were identified: ‘Moderate mental health/high physical performance’ (profile 1, n=101), ‘Very low mental health/average physical performance’ (profile 2, n=49) and ‘High mental health/low physical performance’ (profile 3, n=72). Athletes injured at baseline were less likely to belong to profile 1. Profile 1 had higher injury occurrence than profile 2 (OR=3.63, 95% CI (1.34 to 9.81)) and profile 3 (OR=2.63, 95% CI (1.06 to 6.47)) during the season.

Conclusion Our results indicate that players in the profile characterised by moderate mental health and high physical performance (profile 1) at the start of the season, reported the highest injury occurrence during the season (based on retrospective injury reporting). Future studies should explore factors that can explain this relationship, such as engagement in risk situations, load and recovery.

This study investigates how sport enjoyment and the immediate impact of social interactions with peers and coaches influence short-term sport participation among early adolescent female handball players. By using a diary study approach, data from 27 players over 10 practices in 4 weeks (270 measurement points) were collected. The findings revealed that coach controlling use of rewards during practice increased the risk of non-attendance at the subsequent practices, while peer relatedness support after practice increased attendance probability. Contrarily, peer intra-team conflict, coach negative conditional regard, and sport enjoyment did not predict attendance, suggesting that peer relatedness support and coach controlling use of rewards are more influential in short-term participation decisions for this group of players. Sport enjoyment during practice, as well as peer relatedness support during and after practice, predicted sport enjoyment the following practice. These results highlight the importance of feedback timing and interaction quality in youth sports. Further exploration is proposed on these dynamics across a wider range of demographics, and longer time periods to understand the impact of short- and long-term sport participation.

Background: Predictors of life satisfaction vary between people of different ages, but little is known about the role of specific life phases. We focused on the last years of work before retirement when it is often assumed that workers become less attached to their workplace and focus on other areas of life instead, such as leisure activity. Our aim was to test if the associations between domain satisfaction (job and leisure) and overall life satisfaction change in the years before retirement.

Methods: We applied a time-to-retirement metric in a latent growth curve analysis to longitudinal data from the German Socioeconomic Panel Study (n = 2520) to investigate whether the within-person associations between (1) job and overall life satisfaction and (2) leisure and overall life satisfaction change in the 10 years preceding retirement.

Results: We found that job satisfaction was positively associated with life satisfaction at the between-and within-person level, but the within-person association weakened as workers approached retirement. The positive within-person association between leisure and life satisfaction did not change significantly on the lead up to retirement.

Conclusions: We interpret the results as evidence for a potential preretirement work disengagement, either to support postretirement adjustment or to protect from negative work experiences, in line with lifespan theories on self-regulation.

Background: Destructive leadership has been linked to negative consequences for both organizations and followers. Research has also shown that leader gender affects follower perceptions of leadership behavior and follower outcomes [1,2,3]. However, knowledge is limited as to whether this also applies to destructive leadership [4]. This study aims to combine gendered organization theory with destructive leadership research to investigate the role that gender plays in the relation between destructive leadership behavior and follower outcomes.

Methods: The data were collected in collaboration with Statistic Sweden. It is a representative sample from the working population in Sweden. We used a two-wave survey design and included 1,121 participants in the analysis.

Results: The results from structural equation models indicated that destructive leadership has negative consequences for follower burnout, job satisfaction, and turnover intention 6 months later. The results also showed that followers reported a greater intention to leave the organization if the leader was the same gender and used destructive leadership.

Conclusions: Our study contributes to destructive leadership research by showing that the gender of both the leader and follower matters for the relation between destructive leadership behavior and follower outcomes. Additionally, our study makes a theoretical contribution by integrating a gender research perspective into destructive leadership research.

Athletes undergoing psychotherapy, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), is an understudied group. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the feasibility of combining a single-case design (SCD) with ecological momentary assessment (EMA) throughout a CBT intervention with athletes. We conducted an SCD with multiple-baselines with three athletes seeking treatment at a university sports psychology clinic. EMA was employed with six daily questionnaires measuring positive and negative affect, and momentary context and activity for 105 days. A feasibility questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were conducted post-intervention to investigate the overall experience of participation and specific features of the design. Feasibility was determined by descriptively investigating the assessment frequency, questionnaire length, compliance, potential response patterns, and perceived burden of the sampling protocol. The three participants completed an average of 455 questionnaires with response rates of 48%, 73%, and 77%, respectively. Compliance varied more over weeks than within week or day. The main reason for compliance was the quickness of completing the questionnaire. The number of daily questionnaires was perceived as more burdensome than the number of items in each questionnaire and the length of the study. The current study is the first to demonstrate the feasibility of combining SCD and EMA during CBT with athletes in a real-world clinical setting. This study contributes to evidence-based care for athletes' mental health by demonstrating a design that enables the analysis of individual processes throughout a CBT intervention. This approach can be adopted to further investigate the effectiveness and mechanisms of psychotherapeutic interventions.

Objectives: We investigated changes in weight, exercise frequency, and perceived health from the first to last health profile assessment (HPA) and between the number of tests within five years. We examined whether sociodemographic factors, or baseline values influenced these changes.

Methods: Data from 106 005 employees with ≥2 HPA (1990–2021) were included. Change between the first and last HPA within a five-year period was analyzed. Baseline age, sex, education, occupation, and baseline values of each outcome were included as predictors. XGBoost models assessed changes in the outcomes, and performance was evaluated via root mean squared error, mean absolute error, and R-squared. We employed Shapley Additive Explanations and forward marginal effects to interpret dose–response relationships and subgroup differences.

Results: Predictive performance was low, suggesting that the included variables only partially explained observed changes. Nonetheless, longer intervals between the first and last HPA correlated with greater weight gain, while a higher number of tests predicted slightly lower weight gain and modest improvements in perceived health and exercise frequency, compared to the average change. Younger participants had larger weight increases, whereas those with higher education showed smaller declines in exercise frequency.

Conclusions: Infrequent HPA alone did not appear to substantially influence the lifestyle-related factors studied. However, more frequent HPA, coupled with enhanced feedback and support, may yield small improvements in weight, perceived health, and exercise frequency compared to the average change.

Background: Participating in youth sports can benefit individuals’ psychological (e.g., fewer depressive symptoms,improved self-esteem), social (e.g., improved social skills, learning to work with others as a team), and physical health-related outcomes (e.g., higher physical activity levels, lower body fat), aligning with global sustainable developmentgoals. Nevertheless, little is known about the magnitude concerning the effects of youth sport participation on suchhealth-related outcomes compared with nonparticipation over time from childhood to adulthood. In this paper, wesystematically review the extant longitudinal research and estimate the effects of youth sport participation on severalpsychological, physical, and social outcomes compared with nonparticipation.

Methods: Electronic database searches were employed to identify English-language peer-reviewed studies pub-lished from the earliest date until October 4, 2024. By using a priori criteria for inclusion and exclusion, we included46 out of 4588 identified individual studies in the systematic review and 38 of the eligible studies for calculationof Cohen’s d effect size estimates.

Results: Together, the follow-up measurements of the included studies varied from 1 to 54 years after baseline,and the sample sizes ranged from 76 to over 50,000 participants. The meta-analysis revealed that youth sport partici-pation had positive and statistically significant low- to medium-sized effects on physical activity, health and wellbeing,and negative small- to medium-sized effects on unhealthy body composition and mental ill-being over time.

Conclusions This study provides evidence that participating in youth sports can have health-promoting effectsthroughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. This advocates for collaborative efforts among national gov-ernments, sport governing bodies, communities, and sports clubs to create an accessible and inclusive youth sportenvironment where young people can thrive and reap the health benefits of sport participation.