Projects per year
Abstract
Aim: Dual career development environments (DCDEs) support athletes’ effort in combining their competitive sporting careers with education or work. The characteristics of the environments may differ across cultures. The aim was to identify essential features of DCDEs based on a cross-case analysis of seven European DCDEs in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom within the Erasmus+ Sport project “Ecology of Dual Career”.
Design: The study was designed as a multiple case study and based on two holistic ecological working models (Henriksen et al., 2020). The cross-case analysis included series of focus group discussions, in which two-three researchers from each partner country and four dual career (DC) support providers compared the findings across seven national cases with a primary focus rather on similarities than differences.
Results: A list of ten essential features of the DCDEs, structured into two overarching themes. (1) Holistic structure with five subthemes: Dedicated DC support team, Integration of efforts across the whole environment, A clear understanding of DC issues and support from across the environment, Role models and mentorship, and Access to expert support. (2) Shared DC philosophy also had five subthemes: A whole-person approach, An empowerment approach, Flexible DC solutions, Care of DC athlete’s mental health and wellbeing, and An open and proactive approach to the development of the environment.
Conclusion: The features are introduced in the manner of discussions, thus providing detailed information about the DCDEs without losing (too much) contextual information. These features can help researcher-practitioners to understand DCDEs and guide their optimization.
Keywords: Holistic ecological approach, case study, sport and education, cross-national, Erasmus+
Design: The study was designed as a multiple case study and based on two holistic ecological working models (Henriksen et al., 2020). The cross-case analysis included series of focus group discussions, in which two-three researchers from each partner country and four dual career (DC) support providers compared the findings across seven national cases with a primary focus rather on similarities than differences.
Results: A list of ten essential features of the DCDEs, structured into two overarching themes. (1) Holistic structure with five subthemes: Dedicated DC support team, Integration of efforts across the whole environment, A clear understanding of DC issues and support from across the environment, Role models and mentorship, and Access to expert support. (2) Shared DC philosophy also had five subthemes: A whole-person approach, An empowerment approach, Flexible DC solutions, Care of DC athlete’s mental health and wellbeing, and An open and proactive approach to the development of the environment.
Conclusion: The features are introduced in the manner of discussions, thus providing detailed information about the DCDEs without losing (too much) contextual information. These features can help researcher-practitioners to understand DCDEs and guide their optimization.
Keywords: Holistic ecological approach, case study, sport and education, cross-national, Erasmus+
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 101918 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-13 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Psychology of Sport and Exercise |
| Volume | 54 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - May 2021 |
| Event | Dual Career Day - Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium Duration: 19 Nov 2019 → … |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research was supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union (Grant ID: 590476-EPP-1-2017-1-UK-SPO-SCP). The authors would like to express their gratitude to all who participated in the study. We thank all members of the Erasmus+ Sport project entitled “Ecology of Dual Career - Exploring Dual Career Development Environments across Europe” (ECO-DC) for their cooperation during this study and the entirety of the project. Thanks to Dr. Robert Morris for leading the project as a whole and his involvement in the United Kingdom case. For data collection, we would like to thank Sofie Smismans, Simon Defruyt, Natalia Korhonen, Aku Nikander, Milla Saarinen, Urška Levac, Lukas Linnér, and members of the research group in sport and exercise psychology (GEPE) at the UAB.
Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union (Grant ID: 590476-EPP-1-2017-1-UK-SPO-SCP ). The authors would like to express their gratitude to all who participated in the study. We thank all members of the Erasmus+ Sport project entitled “Ecology of Dual Career - Exploring Dual Career Development Environments across Europe” (ECO-DC) for their cooperation during this study and the entirety of the project. Thanks to Dr. Robert Morris for leading the project as a whole and his involvement in the United Kingdom case. For data collection, we would like to thank Sofie Smismans, Simon Defruyt, Natalia Korhonen, Aku Nikander, Milla Saarinen, Urška Levac, Lukas Linnér, and members of the research group in sport and exercise psychology (GEPE) at the UAB.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords
- Holistic ecological approach
- case study
- sport and education
- cross-national
- Erasmus+ Sport
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Ten Essential Features of European Dual Career Development Environments: A Multiple Case Study'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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EUPOM46: Ecology of DualCareer – Exploring Dual Career Development Environments across Europe “ECO-DC”
Wylleman, P., De Brandt, K. & Flambeaux, E.
1/01/18 → 31/12/19
Project: Fundamental
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Competencies matter: A practical approach to the development of student-athletes and support providers’ competencies: During the symposium "Optimizing talented and elite athletes’ dual career pathways: From research to evidence-based practices"
Defruyt, S., De Brandt, K., Wylleman, P. & Smismans, S., 22 Sep 2020, Abstract book of the 2020 Yokohama Sport Conference (virtual conference). Japan Society of Physical Education, Health and Sport ScienceResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Meeting abstract (Book)
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Context matters: Ten essential features of a Dual Career environment: During the symposium "Optimizing talented and elite athletes’ dual career pathways: From research to evidence-based practices"
De Brandt, K., Wylleman, P., Defruyt, S. & Taelman, K., 22 Sep 2020, Abstract book of the 2020 Yokohama Sport Conference (virtual conference). Japan Society of Physical Education, Health and Sport ScienceResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Meeting abstract (Book)
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The Ecology of Flemish Dual Career Environments: ASSESSMENT OF FLEMISH DUAL CAREER ENVIRONMENTS USING THE DUAL CAREER DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT MONITORING TOOL
De Brandt, K., Wylleman, P., Defruyt, S. & Taelman, K., 13 Jan 2020, Vrije Universiteit Brussel. 9 p.Research output: Book/Report › Other report
Activities
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Student-athletes' dual career at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Koen De Brandt (Speaker)
19 Nov 2019Activity: Talk or presentation › Talk or presentation at a workshop/seminar
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Dual Career workshop: Assessing 10 essential features of your dual career environment - The Dual Career Environment Monitoring Tool in action
Koen De Brandt (Speaker), Simon Defruyt (Speaker) & Kristel Taelman (Speaker)
19 Nov 2019Activity: Talk or presentation › Talk or presentation at a workshop/seminar
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Final consortium meeting "Ecology of Dual Careers"
Koen De Brandt (Organiser)
18 Nov 2019Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in workshop, seminar