Young Men's Christian Association Research Articles

Building an Informal Transnational Information Network on the USSR from Paris: An Outside Perspective on Soviet Life in 1923–1939

The article presents findings on the informal network exchanging and disseminating information about socioeconomic and political trends in the USSR in 1923–1939. This network, formed through interactions between the workers of the American Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and Soviet émigrés in Paris, was supported by American and British academics, public figures, and religious actors. Their goal was to improve public information and raise awareness of repressions in the USSR. The central argument is that this network emerged spontaneously to meet the demand from religious and public actors for regular, objective, and reliable information amid polarized Western views on Soviet experiment in building socialism and communism in the 1920s–1930s. It primarily distributed translations into English of Soviet press articles, official documents, laws, propaganda, and literature. Personal accounts from émigrés or travelers to the USSR were taken into account, but rarely cited in the disseminated materials. An exception highlighted is the 1932–1933 famine, which was omitted from the official Soviet documentation and press. The article reconstructs the information network through the individuals’ professional and personal connections, examining covered topics, methods of information presentation, key communication channels, and obstacles. It briefly discusses the spontaneous involvement of the network’s workers in attempts to influence political and diplomatic decisions, including the restoration of diplomatic and trade relations with the USSR by the British government in 1929 and the US administration in 1933. Article in English

What makes a successful whole-school mental health intervention? A comparison of stakeholders’ perspectives and implications for schools and the future of English education

ABSTRACT This small-scale study compares stakeholders’ perspectives regarding what makes a successful whole-school Mental Health Intervention. Four study groups were included from an all-ability coeducational secondary school in south-east England: Students (n = 8), Teachers (n = 5), School-Leaders (n = 3), and YMCA Youth Workers (n = 3). Students took part in a focus group whereas the adult groups participated in semi-structured interviews. Subsequently, all participants ranked potential aspects of what might make a successful whole school Mental Health Intervention. No theme was mentioned consistently across the four groups, suggesting a diversity of perspectives regarding the benefits of Mental Health Interventions. All participants, except teachers, valued student involvement, a feature confirmed by the literature. Teachers occasionally adopted misinformed perspectives – arguably a result of insufficient training. Generally, participants’ job roles informed their responses. However, a loose trend existed whereby School-Leaders’ results were more aligned to an external charity association – the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) – than Teachers’ despite the fact that the Teachers and School Leaders worked in the same context. Although the single context and small sample sizes for this research compromise generalisability, there are clear recommendations to inform future studies and for those who are leading and providing whole-school Mental Health Interventions. This study is set within the political and policy contexts of a competitive, market drive English education system and can comment on the wider system within which this intervention nests.

Understanding diabetes risk in the Y Community of Greater Brisbane: Findings from a cross-sectional survey.

This cross-sectional study aimed to understand the need and desire for a diabetes prevention program within the Y (formerly YMCA: Young Men's Christian Association) of the Greater Brisbane region, Queensland, Australia. An anonymous online survey was distributed (March-April 2023) by The Y Queensland targeting adults within the Greater Brisbane Y community. Data were collected on Y membership and branch attended, postcode, diabetes risk in the next 5 years (low, medium, or high), and interest in participation in a diabetes prevention program. Data were analysed via descriptives and cross tabulation with statistical significance considered at p < .05. Respondents (n = 575) were primarily female (65%), attending a Y branch located in the outer city (51%), and aged under 55 years (68%). Twenty Y sites were represented, with a mix of inner-city, outer-city, and regional areas. Overall, 46% (n = 241/530) of respondents were at high diabetes risk, with those living in relatively socio-economically disadvantaged areas more likely (p < .001) to be at high-risk (57%) than intermediate (26%) or low-risk (18%). Most (68%) respondents were interested/potentially interested in program participation; those at high risk of developing diabetes in the next 5 years were most interested (55%). The Y in Greater Brisbane may provide a suitable setting to host a community-based diabetes prevention program. Locations outside the inner city should be prioritised to target those who are relatively socio-economically disadvantaged to align with higher need and demand. SO WHAT?: Findings inform the implementation and prioritisation of a community-delivered diabetes prevention program.

Basketball Returns Home: The Diffusion and Translocation of Basketball to Scotland

The early history of basketball and its diffusion to Scotland is yet to be fully acknowledged and recorded. Two themes are addressed in this article: the spread of basketball worldwide and the process of its translocation to a new country; and whether it was voluntarily accepted or culturally imposed or both upon its new host. Some of the preliminary contributions to knowledge about the global diffusion of basketball during its infancy are added to and reimagined, with a specific focus regarding the arrival and infancy of basketball in Scotland. Based on a body of empirical evidence from the British Newspaper Archive alongside the Archive and Special Collection at Springfield College in conjunction with secondary sources which document the inception of basketball in Britain and Scotland, four potential entry points and groups who were responsible for translocating basketball to Scotland are examined. The four: Hampstead College graduates; Scottish-based Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) workers; Scottish sojourners; and Mormon Missionaries. In the process, other possibilities including Springfield graduates and James Naismith are disregarded. To start, the origins of basketball in the United States and its Scottish connections are outlined, before denoting the inception of basketball in the United Kingdom and Scotland.

Medals, Rings, and Olympic Dreams: A Review Essay of Antonio Sotomayor and Cesar R. Torres, eds., Olimpismo

Medals, Rings, and Olympic Dreams: A Review Essay of Antonio Sotomayor and Cesar R. Torres, eds., <i>Olimpismo</i>

‘Correct provision can be made for their wants’: the reading rooms of the Santa Fe Railroad

Private libraries for the use of the working man were established throughout the United States in the nineteenth century, beginning in 1820 in large Eastern cities. These libraries were often part of institutes which included museums, schools, and exhibits of mechanical inventions, and were intended to ‘promote orderly and virtuous habits, diffuse knowledge and the desire for knowledge, improve the scientific skills of mechanics and manufacturers’. With the rise of organised labor movements in the 1870s, the purpose of such libraries shifted to serve as ‘antidotes of strikes and communism’. At this time, the work of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) with railroad and industrial workers began to focus on promoting loyalty to the corporation and rejection of unionisation and political unrest through the Railroad YMCA and Industrial YMCA divisions. Multiple railroads both partnered with the YMCA and opened their own libraries and reading rooms to achieve similar goals. One of these was the Santa Fe Railroad, which established reading rooms throughout the Southwestern United States in large part to serve as a ‘civilising’ influence on railroad employees and towns. Initially restricted to Santa Fe Railroad employees and their families, these reading rooms soon became the social and intellectual centres of the communities in which they were established. The vast majority of reading rooms closed between 1929 and 1940, owing in part to the Great Depression, but also as victims of their own success, as the communities in which they were located grew and expanded and provided alternatives such as churches, schools, and public libraries. Their history mirrors the history of the establishment of public libraries during the same period – they were even being called ‘quasi-universities’ – and reveals much about the greater social and cultural climate in which both institutions developed. Like those of public libraries, the users of these reading rooms utilised them for their own purposes, regardless of the intentions of the founders, and turned them into public places and spaces.

‘For Men Only:’ Sexual Health Education, Neurasthenia and the Modern YMCA in the Gilded Age

Summary In the late-nineteenth century, Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) presented medical lectures designated ‘For Men Only’. This article argues that YMCA lectures about sexual health relied on the discourse of neurasthenia to address sexual health and morality in medical terms. By demonstrating that sexual licentiousness could be both a cause and consequence of this common nervous disease, lecturers at the YMCA invited young men to understand themselves as victims of circumstance, corrupted by modern society. While this period in YMCA history is often considered part of the social hygiene movement of the early twentieth century, this article shows that the efforts of health reform in the 1880s and 1890s mobilised an approach unique to Gilded-Age America, one which served the to bolster the legitimacy of physicians and to attract men into YMCA Halls.

Mobilizing the Spiritual Resources of the Nation: The 1918 United War Work Campaign

On September 3, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson released a letter praising organizations that had provided services for soldiers, including the Young Men's Christian Association, the National Catholic War Council, and the Jewish Welfare Board. Through the work of these groups, the president declared, “the moral and spiritual resources of the nation have been mobilized.” Wilson then asked that, instead of the individual fundraising drives they were planning, the groups instead have single drive during the week of November 11, 1918, what he called a “united war work campaign.”The United War Work Campaign provides a window into understanding how a more pluralistic United States emerged through a process that involved competition and sacrifice as well as cooperation. The YMCA leadership fought to have a separate campaign, but they were forced into accommodating the changing religious dynamics of the nation. The Catholic and Jewish groups confronted Protestant establishment assumptions as they offered their own takes on how to appeal to a diverse American public. All the religious groups found themselves in situations where they had to downplay their faith commitments to ensure the campaign's success, and this led to tensions within the organizations and struggles with their co-religionists. Overall, the United War Work revealed the challenges of church-state collaboration and the compromises that were necessary for the emergence of a tri-faith nation.

The American Effect on Physical Education and Sports in Turkey during the Early Republican Period

The establishment of the new Turkish state was accompanied by a new governmental system, modernization efforts, and reforms in all fields of life. Education, acknowledged as a phenomenon that prepares new generations for the future, became one of the main concerns among the republican reform programs. The lack of specialists to implement new educational programs required inviting professionals of the relevant fields from abroad, and the first to arrive was the American educational scientist John Dewey, only 9 months after the establishment of the republic. Thus, Turkish-American relations, which had begun with commercial and missionary activities during the Ottoman period, entered a new era. Dewey, who emphasized both mental and physical aspects of education as a whole, fostered the emergence of many new services in physical education and sports thanks to his reports. In addition to Dewey’s work, other American reports presented information and suggestions for physical education. The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), which played an essential role in the spread of recreational sports activities, launched many new sports branches and endeavors. This study addresses the effects of those reports and American experts’ suggestions, observations, and approaches for physical education and sports in Turkey.

EFFECT OF A NITRIC OXIDE PRE-WORKOUT SUPPLEMENT ON MUSCULAR ENDURANCE

Introduction: Multi-ingredient dietary supplements have been developed to increase nitric oxide (NO) production, with the expectation of improving resistance training performance. Many of these supplements contain ingredients and/ or ingredient amounts that have yet to be studied for their synergy or efficacy in increasing NO production and thus, resistance training performance. Purpose of the study: A randomized crossover design was used to investigate the effect of a citrulline malate (CM) based non-stimulant nitric oxide pre-workout supplement (NOPWS) blend or placebo on Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) bench press performance. Applied Methodology: Thirty minutes were provided between NOPWS or placebo ingestion and YMCA bench press assessment. Pre/post heart rate was taken following each condition. Two- and one-way repeated measures ANOVAs (α = 0.05) were run to determine the effect of each condition on heart rate (HR) and the number of repetitions performed (respectively) during the bench press test. Achieved major results: There was a significant two-way interaction between the treatment and time for HR, F(1, 20) = 6.82, p = .017. Resting HR was significantly higher during the supplement session (M = 74.67, SE = 2.54 bpm) than during the placebo session (M = 69.14, SE = 2.31 bpm), F(1, 20) = 8.19, p = .010, ηp2 = .290. No significant difference was found between conditions for number of repetitions performed. Leads: A specific CM-containing NOPWS blend had no significant effect on a standardized assessment of upper body muscular endurance. Practical implications: These findings highlight the need for consideration of the minimum effective dosage and assimilation timing of each respective ingredient when developing or researching pre-workout supplement blends. Originality/Value: This is the first known research to study the effectiveness of this specific blend of ingredients on resistance training performance. Thus, this study provides necessary foundational knowledge for future research in this area.

«...Принять меры для воспрепятствования этой разлагающей работы»: Христианский союз молодых людей в восприятии Правительства А.В. Колчака

«...Принять меры для воспрепятствования этой разлагающей работы»: Христианский союз молодых людей в восприятии Правительства А.В. Колчака

Financial professionals and the formation of proprietarian ideology

Financial professionals and the formation of proprietarian ideology

The Use of an Incentive to Improve Breastfeeding Outcomes: The Effectiveness of Offering a Free Family YMCA Membership to Increase Support Group Participation.

Suboptimal breastfeeding can result in negative health consequences for mother and infant and economic consequences for families and communities. Breastfeeding outcomes improve when multifaceted interventions spanning the perinatal period are implemented. Incentives to increase participation in effective, existing community-based breastfeeding support programs have the potential to create behavioral change and improve breastfeeding outcomes but results to date are inconclusive. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the effectiveness of offering a Young Men's Christian Association membership as an incentive to increase attendance at an existing breastfeeding support program to improve breastfeeding duration and exclusivity. This was a two-group, quasi-experimental study using demographic information and pre- and post-intervention participant surveys. Attendance at a breastfeeding support program was incentivized with an offer of a free family Young Men's Christian Association membership. Surveys and demographic information were used to compare attendance, maternal interest, and perceived significant other and family support for attendance with a non-incentivized control group in an adjacent city. The groups differed demographically and socioeconomically. Significantly more at-risk participants both attended the incentivized group and perceived support from their families to attend. There was a significant increase in the incentivized group's attendance: 62% (n = 26) of participants in the incentivized group attended three or more times compared to 36% (n = 50) of participants in the control group (p = .03). Both groups exceeded national breastfeeding averages for exclusive breastfeeding at six months. Offering an incentive increased breastfeeding support group attendance by participants at risk for suboptimal breastfeeding and improved their breastfeeding outcomes, thus closing the breastfeeding disparity gap in this population.

Artificial Neural Network-Based Model for Evaluating Maximum Oxygen Uptake from the Incremental Squatting Test in Young People

Background: Currently, there are two methods for testing maximal oxygen uptake: the direct and indirect methods, but both have certain requirements for testing equipment, site, and personnel. There is a lack of a convenient and effective method for testing maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max). With the development of artificial neural network (ANN), a solution to this gap is provided. Objective: The goal of this study was to design a method to evaluate the cardiopulmonary function of young people and verify its feasibility and reliability. Methods: The incremental squat test (IST) and Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) test were designed with 196 subjects (97 males and 99 females). The back propagation (BP) neural network was used to construct the model of VO2max by recording and analyzing squatting times, height, weight, gender, age, leg length, Manou Riers Skelic index (MRSI), and VO2max. Results: Three hidden layers and 65 nodes were employed in the BP neural network. Each hidden layer contained 19 nodes. Other parameters of this network were 0.01, 0.9, and 2000 for the learning rate, momentum, and iterations, respectively. The difference between the measurements and predictions was not significant (p &gt; 0.05), and the correlation between them was extremely strong (r = 0.98, p &lt; 0.01). Conclusions: We conclude that the model constructed using the BP neural network is accurate, and the IST is feasible for predicting VO2max. This method can be used as a substitute for other cardiopulmonary fitness test protocols in cases of insufficient venues and equipment. thereby preventing health complications. In subsequent studies, the sample size should be expanded, and separate prediction models should be developed for different genders.

Fitness Fights Fires: Exploring the Relationship between Physical Fitness and Firefighter Ability.

Background: Regular exercise in firefighters may be effective in preventing or attenuating ill health (e.g., hypertension, diabetes, and obesity), as well as improving their firefighting ability. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between physical fitness and firefighting ability. Methods: Male firefighter recruits’ (n = 89; age = 27.1 ± 4.2 yrs) physical fitness and firefighting ability were assessed at Week 1 and Week 7 during a basic firefighting training academy. Physical fitness was assessed via 1.5 mile run time, sit-up and push-up repetitions, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) bench press test, vertical jump height, and sit-and-reach flexibility, while firefighting ability was assessed via completion time on a firefighting skills test. Results: Fitness predicted significant variance in firefighting ability at Week 1 (R2 = 0.46; p < 0.01) and Week 7 (R2 = 0.46; p < 0.01), after accounting for age and body mass index. Cardiovascular endurance accounted for 22.4% (FΔ (1, 85) = 25.75) and 39.3% (FΔ (1, 85) = 55.53) while muscular endurance accounted for an additional 19.0% (FΔ (3, 82) = 10.34) and 6.3% (FΔ (3, 82) = 3.2) unique variance in firefighting ability at Week 1 and Week 7, respectively. Conclusions: Given the strong association between fitness and firefighting performance, municipal departments may want to focus on increasing fitness levels among firefighters.

Validity of the 6-Minute Walk Test and YMCA Submaximal Cycle Test During Midpregnancy.

Tinius, RA, Blankenship, M, Maples, JM, Pitts, BC, Furgal, K, Norris, ES, Hoover, DL, Olenick, A, Lambert, J, and Cade, WT. Validity of the 6-minute walk test and Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) submaximal cycle test during midpregnancy. J Strength Cond Res 35(11): 3236-3242, 2021-Submaximal exercise testing can be a feasible alternative to maximal testing within special populations to safely predict fitness levels; however, submaximal exercise testing has not been well-validated for use during pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to determine the concurrent validity of the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) and the YMCA submaximal cycle test (YMCAT) to predict V̇o2max in physically active women during midpregnancy. Thirty-seven (n = 37) pregnant women (22.1 ± 1.4 weeks' gestation) and 10 (n = 10) nonpregnant women participated in the study. Subjects completed a graded maximal treadmill test at 1 visit to measure maximal oxygen consumption (V̇o2max), and then subjects completed the 6MWT and YMCAT in randomized order during a separate visit. The predicted V̇o2max from each submaximal test were compared with the measured V̇o2max from the treadmill test to assess the validity of these tests during pregnancy. Among pregnant women, predicted V̇o2max from the YMCAT was not correlated to the measured V̇o2max (r = 0.14, p = 0.42), and the predicted V̇o2max from the 6MWT was only moderately correlated (r = 0.40, p = 0.016) to the measured V̇o2max. Among nonpregnant women, the predicted V̇o2max values from both the YMCAT and the 6MWT had strong correlations with the measured V̇o2max values (YMCAT: r = 0.71, p = 0.02; 6MWT: r = 0.80, p = 0.006). Neither test demonstrated concurrent validity among the pregnant sample. The main finding is that the YMCAT is not a valid method to estimate V̇o2max during midpregnancy (likely due to physiological changes in heart rate [HR] during pregnancy). The 6MWT has potential to be used clinically for estimating fitness as actual and predicted values did positively correlate, and it is not dependent on HR responses to exercise. However, if a precise measure of fitness is needed, then neither test appears to have strong validity for use during midpregnancy.

Building the Transnational “Body Beautiful”—K.V. Iyer and the Circulation of Bodybuilding Practices between India and the United States

This article examines the career of the Indian physical culturist, K.V. Iyer, and situates his writings from the 1920s and 1930s within a transnational community between India and the United States. Iyer ran several gymnasiums, offered health advice, and sold books and mail-order courses across India and internationally. Previous studies have focused on his yogic practices and anti-colonial thinking, with less attention given to his place in the global bodybuilding community. While his writings were sometimes suffused with political rhetoric, his vision of the ideal citizen was derived from his immersion in Western scientific ideas around physiology and anatomy and his ongoing communication with American physical culturists. Studying a global health community between India and the United States, which first found expression through yoga and the Young Men Christian Association, this article positions Iyer as a leading figure in a global exchange of Indian and American ideas concerning the muscular body.

Secularization, Modernity, and Belief Shaping: Night School and Livelihood Education at the Chinese YMCA in the Early Twentieth Century

In the early 20th century, influenced by evangelicals in the United States, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) launched the “Four Movements” in response to the “Four Maladies” of Chinese society. Among the four movements, “livelihood education” is used to help raise productivity and save people from poverty. Research on the YMCA in modern China rarely focuses on livelihood education, and even when it does, it does not focus on educated adult civilians or explore how the YMCA has changed the course of their lives. Based on fieldwork and detailed analysis of historical documents, this paper traces the formation of three night schools that have adopted various forms of “Christianized” and “secularization” practices and sheds light on the lives of two typical students whose experiences in YMCA night school were still less known. This study will demonstrate and analyze the role of livelihood education in introducing Western civilization and Christian ideas to China’s labor class. YMCA night schools not only helped ordinary Chinese working people acquire basic livelihood skills on a secular level, which enables them to enter a higher class in society and exert influence, but also reshaped their beliefs.

Effect of the roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) calyces drink on the physiological parameters of healthy adult subjects.

The calyx of roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) has been the focus of attention of several studies, and although earlier studies on this plant showed it to possess antilipidemic and antidiabetic activities, none of these studies have assessed the effects of this plant on the physiological parameters of healthy subjects. The present study determined the effects of roselle calyx beverages on blood pressure, abdominal circumference, body mass index (BMI), hematological and urinary parameters, and the lipid profile of healthy subjects. Healthy subjects (n=30) were treated with a 200 ml roselle calyx beverage each morning and evening for 30 consecutive days. Every week the subjects were asked to perform some physical activity by following the Young Men's Christian Association step test. This study used a pre-post quasi-experimental design. Blood samples were taken before (day-0) and after the intervention (day-30). There was an increase in the levels of high-density lipoproteins (from 47.0 to 49.5 mg/dl; P=0.015), and a significant decrease in both systolic and diastolic (P=0.036 and P=0.030, respectively), and the abdominal circumference of the subjects (P=0.005). However, total cholesterol levels (191.2 to 191.9 mg/dl; P=0.821) and low-density lipoprotein levels (129.8 to 133.5 mg/dl; P=0.249) were slightly increased, although not significantly. A lower level of triglycerides (114.3 to 107.4 mg/dl; P=0.269) and very-low-density lipoprotein levels (22.8 to 21.4 mg/dl; P=0.681) was observed. No significant differences were detected in the BMI or the urinalysis parameters were identified. Based on these results, roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) may be used as a supplement to prospectively improve the health status of subjects. No serious adverse effects were observed during this trial.

Effect of acute submaximal physical exercise before decompression dive on tumor necrosis factor alpha concentration among male trained divers

The increase of inflammatory biomarkers due to decompression dive is one of the factors that could cause decompression sickness (DCS), one of them is tumor necrosis alpha (TNFα). According to the preconditioning theory, exercise before dive can reduce amount of gas bubble to prevent DCS. This study aimed to prove that exercise before diving can prevent increase of TNFα. This study employed quasi-experimental design with trained male divers. The subject divided into two groups, treatment and control. The treatment group got submaximal exercise with 70% heart rate intensity, using cycle ergometer with young men's Christian association (YMCA) procedure modify by Guritno, 24 hours before decompression dive 280 kPa bottom time 80 minute with US-NAVY table, whereas the control group only do decompression dive. TNFα expression was checked three times, at beginning of study, before dive and after dive. In treatment group there was insignificant decrease TNFα, from 7.06±1.85pg./ml to 6.75±1.81pg./ml, whereas the control group showed a significant increased TNFα, from 8.22 (1.45 to 13.11)pg./ml to 8.39 (1.73 to 12.18)pg/ml, and significant difference was found between the mean difference for two groups p&amp;lt;0.05. It can be concluded that acute submaximal exercise prevents an increase of TNFα after single dive decompression to prevent possibility occurring DCS).