I am a BPS Chartererd & BASES Accredited Sport & Exercise Psychologist and Senior Lecturer within the applied sport science teaching area.  I teach sport and exercise psychology, mainly in the School of Health, Sport and Biosciences and also occasionally in the school of psychology.  My main interest is in working within the applied sport psychology field.  My experiences of working within the applied field enable me put across the material that I lecture on in the most effective way possible.  My applied interests have tended to transfer across into my research interests where I have researched athletes perceptions of sport psychology and sport science.

More recently I have been interested in bridging the gap between the academic community and those people that would benefit from utilising this information.  I am currently researching fitness intructors and care staffs preceptions of the effects of exercise on people suffering the effects of mental illness.

I lead the sport science support to the Newham Sports Academy.  The Newham Sports Academy is a programme put together and lead by former Olympic gold medalist Tessa Sanderson.  The UEL sport science staff are proud to be involved with this.

• Sport and Exercise Psychology Teaching
• Ethical approval of Undergraduate dissertations
• External sport science support

• Interventions within applied sport psychology
• Athletes and coaches perceptions of sport psychology
• Exercise and mental health

BSc (hons) Applied Sport Science (All pathways)

• BS2108 Social Psychology of Sport
• BS2114 Psychology of Physical Activity
• BS3115 Applied Sport Pychology

• Beale, J (2007) Working with depressed clients: Valuable information and guidance for those working with this unique population in the fitness industry, Register of exercise professionals journal, issue 8

• Beale, J., Johnstone, J & Williamson, A (2007) An evaluation of an Interisciplinary Sport Science Intervention (SSI) to the Great Britain under 16 Korfball team preparing for the Youth Talent World Cup (YTWC)  Oral Presentation at the European Federation of Sport Psychology in Halkidiki Greece 4th – 9th September 2007

Evaluation of an inter-disciplinary sports science intervention (SSI) to the Great Britain under 16 korfball team preparing for the Youth World Cup (YWC). Beale, J.T.*, Johnstone, J., & Williamson, A.*University of East London

Korfball is a mixed gender invasion game with the objective to score points through shooting a ball into a free standing basket. This paper aims to gain a qualitative appreciation of the recipients’ perspective of an inter-disciplinary SSI. The evaluation is a qualitative assessment after a proposition by Biddle et al (2001) that more diverse methods such as qualitative research is required within the sports science domain. The 3 month SSI provided evidence based support to enhance performance through utilising the areas of psychology, nutrition and physiology. The SSI, adapting methods from Halliwell et al, (2003) worked with the squad 8 times over the time period to achieve the objective in the lead up to and during the YWC. Post YWC Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Smith, 1997) was conducted on a representative sample (n = 4) of the squad.

Interviews were transcribed and analysed independently by 2 of the authors before coming to agreement on the themes, clusters and master themes. IPA analysis identified 2 master themes, empowerment and improved performance. Master themes were identified through 9 clusters. Empowerment master themes were derived from, education, learning, knowledge and engagement clusters. Improved performance were derived from, coach reinforcement, outcomes, coach endorsement, general effectiveness and effectiveness.

Results from the IPA suggest that the intervention had a direct positive impact on performance over the intervention period, thus suggesting this form of analysis can be applied to assess an inter-disciplinary SSI. Further qualitative research on the recipients of such interventions is necessary to gain a wider appreciation of athletes and coaches perceptions of SSIs.

• www.bps.org.uk

• www.bases.org.uk