Andreas Ivarsson

Halmstad University · HOV- School of Health and Welfare

Injuries and involuntary retirement are common within sport. If an athlete does not have adequate strategies or support to deal with these, negative consequences are likely to follow. These two life events can often be uncontrollable, unpredictable, and often of unexpected nature increasing the risk of the athlete to experience them as career crisi...

Few educational programs to nurture coach need-supportive behaviors have been delivered by sport governing bodies (Evans et al., 2015). Consequently, the potential for such programs to meaningfully change coaches’ interpersonal behaviors requires further investigation (Cushion et al., 2010). Grounded in self-determination theory, we hypothesized th...

Studies taking a person-centred statistical approach when examining young peoples` psychological experiences in sport is scarce. The main aim of the present study was to examine the relationships between young football players’ psychological health resources and the psychological quality of their football-specific experiences. Data for this cross-s...

Few educational programs to nurture coach need-supportive behaviors have been delivered by sport governing bodies (Evans et al., 2015). Consequently, the potential for such programs to meaningfully change coaches' interpersonal behaviors requires further investigation (Cushion et al., 2010). Grounded in self-determination theory (SDT), we hypothesi...

While left-handers have been overrepresented among 7-meter shooters in handball, previous investigators have not found success from the 7-meter line to be related to handedness. Drawing on previous handedness research in sport, we performed two studies to examine possible negative frequency-dependent advantages to lefthandedness during 7-meter thro...

Research shows that high-level military and sport leaders share a high-stress and high-stakes leader role due to similar experiences of demanding conditions mainly manifested in psychological burden. This raises research questions about leaders' psychological strategies to maintain their mental health and performance under demanding conditions. Thu...

Background This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a 6‐month home‐based high‐intensity interval training (HIIT) intervention to improve peak oxygen consumption (V̇O2peak) and lactate threshold (LT) in older adults. Methods Two hundred thirty‐three healthy older adults (60–84 years; 54% females) were randomly assigned to either 6‐month...

The current study follows up on the first-time implementation of the GrowTMindS Intervention described in Part I, with an overall aim of improving sports coaches’ beliefs in their talent as a coach (coach talent mindset, C-TM) and their athletes’ talent (athlete talent mindset, A-TM) as being malleable. By drawing on the user-centered design approa...

Background: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of incurable visual impairment and impacts daily life. There are benefits of physical activity for people who are affected with AMD; however, living with AMD is associated with lower levels of physical activity and social isolation. The aim of this study was to explore how...

The overall aim of this two-part study was to develop an intervention targeting sports coaches’ mindsets about their talent as a coach (coach talent mindset, C-TM) and their athletes’ talent (athlete talent mindset, A-TM), called the GrowTMindS Intervention. In this Part I, the intervention was developed drawing on a user-centered design approach a...

Factors influencing sport injury risk, rehabilitation outcomes, and return to sport processes have been the focus in various research disciplines (sports medicine, psychology and sociology). One discipline, with over 50 years of scholarship, is the psychology of sport injury. Despite the research in this field, there is no evidence-based consensus...

Overuse injuries, which have a high prevalence in sport, are suggested to result in different affective responses in comparison to traumatic injuries. Affects may also reciprocally act as risk factors for overuse injury. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between overuse injury and affects within a longitudinal follow‐up design....

Purpose This study aimed to explore whether a meaningful improvement in physical performance following an in-season strength training intervention can be related to external load match parameters at an individual level in professional male football players. Methods Eight male professional football players (25.4 ± 3.1 years, 184.1 ± 3.4 cm, 79.3 ±...

The aim of the study was to examine effects of the Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment (MAC) programme on sport-specific dispositional mindfulness, sport anxiety, and experiential acceptance, compared to an inactive control group, in a population of Martial Arts (MA) athletes. Twenty-three MA athletes were subjected to the MAC intervention, and 22 MA...

There are several long-standing beliefs that persist in sport despite little or no evidence of them being true. The aim of this study was to assess the veracity of two such beliefs related to 7-meter throws in handball: 1) that the fouled players should not take their own 7-meter shots as their ability to score is compromised, and 2) that changing...

Background Psychological factors are suggested to increase the risk of sport injuries. Neurocognitive functions are, within several theoretical models, suggested to be one important psychological risk factor (e.g., Williams & Andersen, 1998). It is, therefore, important to review the empirical evidence for the association between neurocognitive fun...

This study explored professional wrestlers’ experiences of the consequences of an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and their perception of whether the ACL injury could have been prevented. We interviewed 10 professional wrestlers (60% women, age range 21–34) treated with ACL reconstruction with semistructured interviews. Transcripts were ana...

Introduction The number of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the effects of exercise among cancer survivors has increased in recent years; however, participants dropping out of the trials are rarely described. The objective of the present study was to assess which combinations of participant and exercise program characteristics were...

Aim The present systematic review and meta‐analysis aimed to compare the effect of moderate‐ versus high‐intensity aerobic exercise on cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in older adults, taking into account the volume of exercise completed. Methods The databases MEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE (Ovid), and CENTRAL (Cochrane Library) were searched to identify r...

Introduction About 50% of patients who sustain an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury are treated without ACL reconstruction (ACL‐R). A significant proportion of these patients opt for late ACL‐R. Patients' experience of changing treatment has not yet been investigated and presented in the scientific literature. Aim To explore patients' experi...

SYNOPSIS: Communication, goal setting, and shared decision making are possible tools to address psychological components of rehabilitation process after a sports injury. The nature and quality of interactions between sports rehabilitation practitioners and athletes may have a profound impact on athletes’ emotional processes. High-quality communicat...

Female endurance athletes are at high risk for developing Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs), resulting in symptoms such as menstrual dysfunction and gastrointestinal (GI) problems. The primary aim of this study was to investigate effects of the FUEL (Food and nUtrition for Endurance athletes—a Learning program) intervention consisting of w...

Background Active travel and school settings are considered ideal for promoting physical activity. However, previous research suggests limited effect of school-based interventions on overall physical activity levels among adolescents. The relationship between physical activity in different domains remains inconclusive. In this study, we examined th...

The aims of this scoping review were to map the current literature on interventions for improving mental health in athletes, identify knowledge gaps, and generate future research questions. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guided this review. A systematic literature sea...

Interpersonal coach-and parent development programmes (CDP and PDP, respectively), have the goal to foster positive youth sport experiences through high-quality relations between coaches, parents, and youth athletes. In this paper we systematically review the extant literature and estimate the overall magnitude of such programmes and how they can i...

Objectives First, to map the prevalence of symptoms of positive mental health, anxiety, depression and sleep difficulties, along with the coexistence of these symptoms, among players in the Swedish Women’s Hockey League (SDHL). Second, to investigate relationships between these mental health symptoms and demographic variables (ie, age, injuries, du...

Objectives Elite youth football players miss out on a large part of seasonal training due to injury. Limited research suggests an association between external and internal training load (TL) and injury incidence in elite youth football. This study analysed external and internal TL variables and their association with injury incidence in a group of...

Globally, educational systems were thoroughly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Upper-secondary students were faced with school closures and distance education. For student-athletes, the COVID-19 pandemic, besides academic stress, also contributed to sports-related stress. In this paper, we explore upper-secondary school student athletes' experien...

Indications of laterall biases favouring left-handers have been found in various sports; especially interactive sports where the athletes have limited time to react to incoming objects. The aim of this study was therefore to explore whether any lateral biases exist in handball by examining 7-meter shots. A total of 6846 7-meter throws from 240 7-me...

Objectives To, based on diagnostic interviews, investigate the distribution of mental disorders among a sample of Norwegian elite athletes with ‘at-risk scores’ on a self-report questionnaire measuring symptoms of mental health problems. Then, to investigate the relationship between ‘at-risk scores’ and diagnosed mental disorders. Methods A two-ph...

One perspective on leadership that has recently gained increased attention in sport is identity leadership; however, research on elite sport teams is still in its infancy. Thus, the main purpose of this research is to investigate identity leadership in elite team sports in relation to task cohesion, and subsequently to explore the mediating role of...

Objectives: To examine the motivational predictors of the smoking cessation process at the between-persons and within-persons levels. Methods: Mediation analyses were conducted on self-report data (N = 236) that were collected using interval contingent sampling over a 39-day study period. Results: There was a high rate of attrition, as nearly...

People with psychotic disorders have a significantly increased risk of physical diseases and excessive mortality rates. The aim of the study was to investigate relationships between changes in physical activity, levels of salutogenic health, and glycated hemoglobin among people with psychotic disorders after participation in an individualized lifes...

The aim of this study was to compare the effects of autoregulating strength training volume based on an objective (external load match performance) versus a subjective (self-selected) method in professional male football players. Sixteen players completed a 10-week strength training programme where the number of sets was regulated based on football...

Background: Regular sport participation is essential for youths physical, mental, and social health. Research shows, however, that sports participation peaks at around 10-14 years of age before declining through adolescence. Soccer, which is the most popular youth sport in Sweden, is no exception to dropout problems during adolescence. Purpose of...

Background: Regular sport participation is essential for youths physical, mental, and social health. Research shows, however, that sports participation peaks at around 10-14 years of age before declining through adolescence. Soccer, which is the most popular youth sport in Sweden, is no exception to dropout problems during adolescence. Objectives:...

Research on the ergogenic effects of music on athletic performance usually includes multiple antecedents simultaneously. Consequently, this study set out to isolate a single antecedent using a highly controlled experiment. More specifically, the aim of the study was to investigate the effect of pre-task, slow-and fast-tempo music on arousal, affect...

Up to 50% of patients who suffer an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury receive or opt for rehabilitation alone as initial treatment in Scandinavia. Knowledge of whether patients treated with rehabilitation alone after ACL injury are satisfied is lacking. This study aimed to explore the experiences of patients treated with rehabilitation alone...

Female endurance athletes are considered a high-risk group for developing Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs). Due to the lack of educational and behavioral intervention studies, targeting and evaluating the effects of the practical daily management of REDs, we developed the Food and nUtrition for Endurance athletes—a Learning (FUEL) program...

Background Athlete monitoring trends appear to be favouring objective over subjective measures. One reason of potentially several is that subjective monitoring affords athletes to give dishonest responses. Indeed, athletes have never been systematically researched to understand why they are honest or not. Objective Because we do not know what moti...

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of incurable visual impairment and impacts daily life. These impacts include loss of social activities, decreased functional independence, and reduced physical activity. This protocol aims to describe a prospective, mixed-methodology for studying a population with AMD before, during, a...

Objectives We examined the manner in which age, participation in other sports, socioeconomic status, perceived sport competence, achievement goal orientations, and perceived motivational climate may interact to predict the risk of dropout among adolescent female soccer players. Methods Self-reported data from 519 female soccer players between 10 a...

In recent years an increased drop-out rate in adolescents’ soccer participation has been observed. Given the potentially adverse consequences of drop-out from soccer, more information about risk factors for drop-out is warranted. In the current study, Classification and Regression Tree (CRT) analysis was used to investigate demographic and motivati...

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between physical performance tests and on-ice external load from simulated games (scrimmages) in ice hockey. Methods: A total of 14 players completed a physical performance test battery consisting of 30-m sprint test-run and 30-m sprint test-skate (including 10-m split times and maximum speed), countermov...

Accepted author manuscript version reprinted, by permission, from International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2022-0225. © Human Kinetics, Inc Purpose: To investigate the relationship between physical performance tests and on-ice external load from simulated games (scrimmages) in ice hockey. Met...

Objective/background Healthy sleep is particularly important for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as sleep disturbances might aggravate disease symptoms. This review aims to synthesize and report evidence on the effectiveness of sleep interventions in increasing sleep, quality of life (QoL), and ADHD symptoms among chi...

Military and sport have attracted increased research interest separately as two distinctly demanding performance- and leadership-driven contexts. However, cross-contextual psychological research in leadership is lacking. Such research has potential to expose unique cross-fertilising insights into resemblances in leadership challenges among military...

An asymmetry in the prevalence of left-handedness vs. right-handedness in society has supposedly resulted in negative frequency-dependent advantages for left-handers in interactive sports. The aim of this study was to test whether these advantages apply to handball by examining whether being left-handed is beneficial when executing 7 m shots, a hig...

Background: The purpose was to investigate if participation in a three-month electronic tracking outdoor physical activity and a motivational interviewing (MI) intervention led to positive behavioural, psychological, and physiological outcomes. Methods: Based on a two-group pre-post design, 12 middle-aged women and 6 men were randomly assign to an...

(1) Background: The aim was to explore the impact of adaptive responses (resilience factors) on student-athletes’ behaviors during a stressful period of life during the SARS-CoV-2-pandemic of 2020 and 2021. (2) Methods: A constructivist-based grounded theory (CGT) was used guided by a biopsychosocial approach. Based on purposeful sampling, 22 male...

The “11 for Health in Denmark” in‐school educational football program has shown to have numerous positive physiological and psychological effects in 10–12‐year‐old schoolchildren. A key part of the successful application of the program, however, has not yet been examined, namely the motivational processes underlying participation and behavioral cha...

There are many axioms in sport that are taken at face value. One of them is that the playoffs are somehow totally different from the regular season. The aim of this study was to test that axiom by comparing in-game statistics during the regular season and the playoffs in the semi-professional Icelandic elite men's handball league. Data from 724 gam...

Background Despite anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) re-ruptures being common, research on patient experiences after knee trauma has primarily focused on the time after primary ACL reconstruction. Integrating qualitative research and patient experiences can facilitate researchers and clinicians in understanding the burden of an ACL re-rupture. The a...

Background: An increasingly aging population is a global phenomenon. While considered a positive step forward, vulnerability to age-related health problems increases along with the ageing population. The aim of the study was to investigate weighted blankets' effect on health regarding quality of life (QoL), sleep, nutrition, cognition, activities...

Introduction: Enjoyment is a critical component of youth sporting experiences and coaches have been recognised as a key influence on its development (McCarthy & Jones, 2007). However, most studies examining coach influences on enjoyment have used a cross-sectional design. Hence, little is known regarding how enjoyment develops, and is influenced wi...

Introduction Depression is common, increasing among adolescents and carries risk of disability, lower educational achievements, cardiovascular disease, substance abuse, self-harm and suicide. The effects of evidence-based treatments with medication or psychotherapy are modest. Aerobic exercise is a promising intervention for adolescents with depres...

Background Mediation analysis is important to test the theoretical framework underpinning an intervention. We therefore aimed to investigate if the healthy body image (HBI) intervention’s effect on eating disorder (ED) symptomatology and use of muscle building supplements was mediated by the change in risk and protective factors for ED development...

Psychological readiness to return to sport (RTS) after injury is a critical and timely area of research that has received significant research attention of late. Although research on psychological readiness to RTS has burgeoned in recent years, there remains a lack of conceptual clarity on what psychological readiness is. As such, our aims in this...

During the last decades, an increased drop-out rate in adolescents’ team sport participation is observed. Given the potential adverse consequences of drop-out from team sport more information about risk factors for drop-out is warranted. The objectives of this systematic review were to (1) synthesise the literature on factors associated with future...

Objective A limited number of studies have explored the external load experienced in indoor sports such as ice hockey, and few the link between training and match performance. As a paucity exists within this topic, this study explored whether a simulated match design (i.e., scrimmage) could be representative of official match demands and elicit sim...

Objectives: Self-Determination Theory posits that managers' autonomy-supportive behavior and employees' autonomy causality orientation, are motivation constructs to explain internalization of values, functioning, and wellness at work. Hypothesis 1 tested whether profiles comprising perceived dental clinic managers' autonomy-supportive, as opposed...