Sangam: A Confluence of Knowledge Streams

A Breath of Fresh air: Breathing stories of the lived experiences of asthma and sporting embodiment

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dc.contributor Mewse, Avril
dc.contributor Allen-Collinson, Jacquelyn
dc.creator Owton, Helen Louise
dc.date 2012-12-19T13:10:28Z
dc.date 2013-03-21T11:56:48Z
dc.date 2012-10-11
dc.date 2014-06-19T03:00:23Z
dc.date.accessioned 2023-02-23T09:36:50Z
dc.date.available 2023-02-23T09:36:50Z
dc.identifier http://hdl.handle.net/10036/4092
dc.identifier.uri http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/CUHPOERS/255170
dc.description The purpose of this study is to conduct an investigation of the lived experiences of asthma and sporting embodiment in non-elite sportspeople of different ages and levels of ability, involved in a range of sports. Asthma is characterised as a breathing disorder and the aim of this research is to add to embodied literature by providing ‘fleshy’ realities of the moving, sweating, sensuous sporting body, which holds meanings, purposes and interests for people who experience sport with asthma. Breathing is not only a physiological process, but it is also cultural and people may deal with their asthma symptoms in ways that reflect cultural attitudes embedded in sport. This qualitative study addresses five exploratory questions: 1) How do sportspeople experience asthma? 2) How do sportspeople negotiate their asthma and sporting identities? 3) How do emotional dimensions play a role in sportspeople’s asthma and sporting experiences? 4) How do perceptions of environment and illness shape one another by examining the relationship between the body, the self and environment? 5) What is the role of trauma in sportspeople with asthma? 6) How do key senses (sound) play a role in sportspeople’s asthma and embodied sporting experiences? Through a symbolic-interactionsist and phenomenological-inspired approach, this research places emphasis on the mind-body-self nexus in relation to sensory experiences with a focus upon the centrality of the ‘visceral’ body in the relationship between self-consciousness and the self. A bodily disruption (e.g., asthmatic attack) is likely to heighten awareness of the body-self and contingency and may amplify how sportspeople listen to their own embodied selves when engaged in sporting action. Therefore, sportspeople may become even more acutely aware of, and attuned to, their breathing in ways that link the physiological, the psychological, the social and the environment. This may lead to a permanent re-ordering/negotiation of identities (e.g., athletic identity - asthma identity) through ‘emotion work’ and ‘somatic (auditory) work’ in which a concern with the body is central. The findings are represented as a typology consisting of Conformers, Contesters and Creators, which may be used as a framework to assist health care and sporting professionals in developing more appropriate and effective rehabilitation regimes for sportspeople, in order to improve the quality of treatment and outcomes.
dc.language en
dc.publisher University of Exeter
dc.publisher Sport and Health Sciences
dc.rights The thesis contains data of a sensitive and personal nature, including data pertaining to some individuals who work, or have recently worked at the University of Exeter, and might potentially be identifiable, despite the candidate’s sustained adherence to all the usual protocols regarding anonymity and confidentiality. We therefore consider that in order to protect the anonymity of these individuals, a 5- year embargo on the thesis is required.
dc.subject lived experiences, bodily disruption, sensuous sporting body, asthma and sporting embodiment, somatic (auditory) work, identity, emotion work
dc.title A Breath of Fresh air: Breathing stories of the lived experiences of asthma and sporting embodiment
dc.type Thesis or dissertation
dc.type Doctor of Philosophy in Sport and Health Sciences
dc.type Doctoral
dc.type PhD


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