Young Men's Christian Association Research Articles

The Black Fives

135 Exhibition Review The Black Fives. New-York Historical Society. Claude Johnson, Curator. On view now through July 20, 2014. Reviewed by Debra Jackson, Independent Scholar Basketball fans who follow the game and its players can appreciate the fascination and allure of the multi-billion dollar industry, even its more offensive permutations. Although recently the sports community was stunned by the revelation of unsavory remarks made by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling—and the subsequent censures imposed on Sterling by the National Basketball Association (NBA)—one can nevertheless detect a palpable taste for scandal fed by the exuberant media coverage of the sport and its personalities. Perhaps it is no surprise that racism surfaced in an organization that long claimed to have moved beyond its history . But the sports industry could hardly remain immune to society’s ills. This is just one of the reasons why this gem of an exhibition at the NewYork Historical Society, The Black Fives, is so provocative. The exhibition recounts the story of triumph over adversity, and recovers from an undeserved obscurity the exceptional individuals who created and promoted the all-black ball clubs; it tells the story of the exceptional athletes who overcame the reality of Jim Crow segregation in public sports, and who made the game what it is today. The Black Fives, developed by guest curator Claude Johnson, is well worth the investment of time needed to absorb the wealth of material included in each thoughtful display. The majority of the documents and artifacts come from Johnson’s personal collection and include photographs, souvenir programs, newspapers, vintage team uniforms, and several sound recordings. Collectively these items reveal how thoroughly basketball—and the business of promoting the game—was incorporated into the fabric of 136 ■ NEW YORK HISTORY black life during the era of The Black Fives (1904 to 1950). Once defined as a healthful activity that might diminish the morbid effects of residential overcrowding in urban communities, basketball grew in popularity during the first decade of the twentieth century. Black literary clubs, neighborhoods , churches, schools, and newspapers all formed basketball teams; early ball venues included church basements, ballrooms, and armories, demonstrating that the sport became an integral part of the African-American urban public sphere. Installed in the Historical Society’s intimate, second-floor gallery, the exhibition entrance greets visitors as they make their way up the stairs from the first floor. The gallery’s entrance is flanked by visual displays that prepare the visitor to step into the world of the early twentieth century; on the left projectors cast life-size images of some of the great hoopsters of the period, including Charles “Tarzan” Cooper of the New York Rens (1939) in team uniform, onto a large screen. On the right side of the entrance is an interactive display featuring a brief video which provides historical context for the exhibition. These installations prepare visitors for the first display of artifacts: flannel trunks, shoes, leather knee pads, and a life-size photographic image of Cumberland Posey, Jr.–one of the most gifted players of his time. This clever arrangement, illustrating what well-outfitted basketball players wore in the 1920s, captivates visitors and draws them into the world of the Black Fives. The gallery’s oblong shape is designed to suggest a diminutive basketball court, and the displays are organized chronologically around six themes: Early Basketball, Amateur Ideals, SemiPro Opportunities, Professionalism, Depression Era, and Racial Integration. The section devoted to the early period explores basketball’s origins. Invented at a Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in Springfield, Massachusetts by James Naismith in 1891, the game quickly took hold and spread around the world. In the African American community, the organized participation of basketball began in 1904, when public school teacher Edwin Bancroft Henderson, known as the “Grandfather of Black Basketball,” incorporated the game into his gym classes in the Washington, D.C. public school system. The first black athletic club was also founded in 1904 in Harlem, as the Alpha Physical Culture Club. Other early clubs in New York City included the St. Christopher Club (the athletic branch of New York’s St. Philip’s Protestant Episcopal Church) and the Smart...

Muscularity, Heavy Athletics and Urban Leisure in Ethiopia, 1950s–1970s

This article focuses on the development of heavy athletics in urban Ethiopia during Haile Selassie's reign. In an attempt to modernise the country, educational institutions and missionary movements such as the Young Men's Christian Association were used to create healthy citizen bodies. By focusing on weightlifting, bodybuilding and wrestling, the article shows different trajectories of institutionalisation due to specific ideas about modernity and global sports. As a way of showcasing self-improvement, and by lucrative bodybuilding performances, urban leisure arguably paved the way in Ethiopia for the muscular male body as an ‘acceptable' aesthetic form.

Muscular Christianity and value-centred sport: the legacy of Tom Brown in Canada†

This article was written for a conference organized by John MacAloon at the University of Chicago in 2005 in anticipation of the 150th anniversary of the publication of Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes. In reflecting upon the Hughes' tradition in Canada, I argue that there was a left tradition in ‘muscular Christianity’, that it was middle-class reformers and socialists as well as upper-class conservatives who took the ideals romanticized by Tom Brown's Schooldays and ran with them in municipal playgrounds, the amateur sport movement, the Young Men's Christian Associations (YMCAs), church sports associations and university sport clubs. With the disappearance of the socialist sports tradition in the 1950s, the followers of Hughes and the tradition of ‘sport for good’ have become the most progressive voice in the pan-Canadian debates about the purpose of sport and the nature and extent of state funding, championing educational sport and sport for development and peace in disadvantaged communities in Canada and abroad while cringing at the ugliness and instrumental violence of the spectacles staged by the capitalist cartels and the uncritical pursuit of the podium by the leadership of the Canadian sport system.

The YMCA and the Origins of Freshman Orientation Programs

Most insightful historical work pinpoints the rise of freshman orientation programs in the mid 1920s as one instance of administrative specialization emerging to fill the advising and socialization void left by faculty taken with academic particularization. Although the press of the historical moment is indeed relevant, institutionalized freshman orientation did not emerge in the historical moment of the 1920s sans progenitor. Rather, specific students sensed the needs of their peers and acted upon their intuition much earlier as a latent orientation function of their manifest religious intent. This research illustrates the lineage of freshman events and college socialization interventions that accumulated over several decades and demonstrates that they were initiated originally by students themselves, specifically through the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Student Associations found across the United States and many parts of Canada.

Improving the Physical Self: Sport, Body Politics, and Ethiopian Modernity, ca. 1920–1974

Abstract The following essay seeks to understand the place of sport in attempts to “modernize” Ethiopia during Haile Selassie's reign. It focuses on modern sports (i.e., sports already codified and regulated by international bodies), and their expansion through specific imperial projects as well as individual activities. These include training institutions such as schools or military academies, where sport was a means of creating healthy and efficient bodies; places of leisure, such as the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) or university sports, where sport became a vital part of self-improvement; and spaces where the emperor turned sport into a powerful symbol to bear witness to his interest in developing a healthy nation. Using sports as a lens, the essay argues for a multifaceted and nonteleological reading of modernity.

Abstract WP316: Submaximal Exercise Test to Predict VO2 Peak in Subacute Stroke

Purpose: Submaximal exercise testing can be an attractive alternative to peak testing especially in clinical environments where a metabolic cart and adequately trained medical staff may not be readily available. We examined the relationship between peak oxygen consumption (VO2 peak) and a predicted VO2 peak value obtained from a submaximal exercise test that we developed for a total body recumbent stepper (TBRS). We hypothesized that in people with subacute stroke, the actual VO2 peak and predicted VO2 peak would have a moderate (r > 0.75) relationship. Methods: Ten individuals in the subacute stage of stroke recovery (68.6+40.1 days post-stroke) and 61.2+ 5.0 years of age participated in the study. Exercise testing using a metabolic cart and the TBRS for the exercise modality was performed on the first day to obtain VO2 peak. We used the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) protocol for the TBRS. The step rate was maintained between 95-100 steps per minute (spm). Participants started the test at 30 watts and resistance was increased every 3 minutes according to the protocol until volitional fatigue, or 85% of age-predicted HR max was achieved. HR was recorded ten seconds prior to the end of the second and third minute of each stage. If the two HR measures were within 5 bpm of each other, participants progressed to the next stage. However, if the difference was greater than 5 bpm, an additional minute was performed to ensure a steady-state. The participants completed the submaximal exercise test within one to two days after the peak exercise test. The workload in watts and HR at the end of the submaximal exercise test along with age, sex and weight (kg) were used in the equation to predict VO2 peak. Results: We found that predicted VO2 peak generated from the submaximal exercise test equation had a strong correlation to the actual VO2 peak (r = 0.80, p = 0.006). Mean peakVO2 (ml*kg-1*min-1) from the exercise test was 22.9 + 7.3 ml*kg-1*min-1 and the predicted mean value was 17.6 + 6.1 ml*kg-1*min-1. Paired t-test revealed a statistically significant difference between these two values (p = 0.005). Conclusion: This preliminary data demonstrates the TBRS submaximal exercise test shows promise for assessing VO2 peak in sub-acute stroke.

Improving the Physical Self: Sport, Body Politics, and Ethiopian Modernity, ca. 1920–1974

The following essay seeks to understand the place of sport in attempts to “modernize” Ethiopia during Haile Selassie’s reign. It focuses on modern sports (i.e., sports already codified and regulated by international bodies), and their expansion through specific imperial projects as well as individual activities. These include training institutions such as schools or military academies, where sport was a means of creating healthy and efficient bodies; places of leisure, suchasthe Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) or university sports, where sport became a vital part of self-improvement; and spaces where the emperor turned sport into a powerful symbol to bear witness to his interest in developing a healthy nation. Using sports as a lens, the essay argues for a multifaceted and nonteleological reading of modernity.

<b>清朝後期から中華民国期（ 1890s‐1937） の中国の高等教育機関におけるスポーツ</b>

This paper references literature to focus on three aspects: the origins, the expression of sport, and the problems faced by sport in China’s universities and colleges from the Late Qing Dynasty to the era of the Republic of China. In China’s traditional cultural system, physical culture did not develop into something similar to sport as it had developed in Western cultures. This Western sport was introduced into China, where it emerged and developed in Christian and government-run higher education institutions in the period from the 1890s to the early 20th century. Competitive sporting events became the expression of university and college sport from the Late Qing Dynasty to the era of the Republic of China, including collegiate, national and international games. These games were advocated and organized by Chinese-based offices of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and higher education institutions, and the athletes who participated were mainly students enrolled in universities and colleges. One of the problems faced by university and college sport in the period was the contestants system. The paper’s conclusions are as follows: 1) the origins of university and college sport in China can be identified in the period from the 1890s to the early 20th century; 2) university and college sport in China represented the pinnacle of sport at that time and athletes who were training in higher education institutions made up the majority of athletes participating in competitive sporting events; 3) the contestants system had a significant impact on sport popularization in higher education institutions in the 1920s and 1930s.

Effect of Moderate-Intensity Exercise Training on the Cognitive Function of Young Adults with Intellectual Disabilities

In addition to cognitive impairment, young adults with intellectual disabilities (IDs) are also more likely to be in poor health. Exercise may help ameliorate both of these deficits. While the health benefits of exercise are well documented and understood, the cognitive benefits of exercise are emerging. Exercise has been shown to improve the cognitive function of young, old, and diseased populations but few studies have evaluated the effect of exercise training on the cognitive functioning of individuals with IDs. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of moderate-intensity exercise training on the cognitive function of young adults with IDs. Fourteen students (age, 19.4 ± 1.3 years) with mild to moderate IDs participated in an 8-week comprehensive exercise intervention program based on circuit training, aerobic dancing, and adapted sport activities. Sessions lasted 45 minutes, and intensity was maintained at 60-70% of maximum heart rate (HR(max)). Aerobic fitness was assessed via the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) step test, and intellectual functioning was assessed via 3 subtests from the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities once before and after the intervention. Performance was significantly improved on all 3 cognitive tests (all, p < 0.002). Aerobic fitness also significantly improved (p < 0.002). The mean percent increase in processing speed, a measure taking into account each individual's performance on the 3 subtests, was 103%. The mean individual improvement in aerobic fitness was 17.5%. Moderate-intensity exercise training can yield robust improvements in the cognitive functioning and aerobic fitness of young adults with IDs. These effects support the inclusion of exercise into the lives of young adults with ID to promote their physical and cognitive health. Fourteen students (age, 19.4 ± 1.3 years) with mild to moderate IDs participated in an 8-week comprehensive exercise intervention program based on circuit training, aerobic dancing, and adapted sport activities. Sessions lasted 45 minutes and intensity Powered by Editorial Manager and Preprint Manager from Aries Systems Corporation was maintained at 60-70% of HR(max). Aerobic fitness was assessed via the YMCA step test, and intellectual functioning was assessed via 3 subtests from the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities once before and after the intervention. Performance was significantly improved on all 3 cognitive tests (all, p < 0.002). Aerobic fitness also significantly improved (p < 0.002). The mean percent increase in processing speed, a measure taking into account each individual's performance on the 3 subtests, was 103%. The mean individual improvement in aerobic fitness was 17.5%. Moderate-intensity exercise training can yield robust improvements in the cognitive functioning and aerobic fitness of young adults with IDs. These effects support the inclusion of exercise into the lives of young adults with ID to promote their physical and cognitive health.

Cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular flexibility and strength in first‐episode schizophrenia patients: use of a standardized fitness assessment

This study determined the fitness status and examined potential correlates of fitness in first-episode schizophrenia patients using a standardized fitness test protocol. A certified fitness instructor administered the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) fitness test to 70 recent-onset schizophrenia participants within 3 months of entry into the study. Percentile ranks of scores on muscular strength and endurance, muscular flexibility and cardiorespiratory fitness in our sample were all below the 50th percentile when compared with national norms in the United States. As expected, patients with a higher body mass index and those who smoked had poorer cardiorespiratory fitness. A non-significant trend indicated that patients with a longer duration of illness had worse cardiorespiratory fitness. Exposure to antipsychotic medication was unrelated to cardiorespiratory fitness. Results suggest that physical fitness is impaired and might decline over time in first-episode schizophrenia patients, but this needs to be confirmed in a longitudinal study.

"We . . . Are the Most Fortunate of Prisoners": The Axis POW Experience at Camp Opelika during World War II

“We . . . Are the Most Fortunate of Prisoners”: The Axis POW Experience at Camp Opelika during World War II While prisoners of war (POWs) have experienced danger and death throughout modern warfare, never has a conflict been as deadly for POWs as World War II. During the war an estimated 35 million soldiers were captured. Many of these prisoners faced starvation, exposure to the elements, epidemic disease, and cold brutality from their captors. Despite such international agreements as the Geneva Convention of 1929, approximately five million POWs died during World War II, most notoriously on the Eastern Front where both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union treated their prisoners with criminal callousness, and in the Pacific War, where the 132,000 Allied POWs captured by the Japanese endured such extremes of brutality that more than 35,000 of them (27 percent) died during their captivity.1 Despite the horrors that faced POWs in every theater of the war, pockets of humanity and compassion did exist, where the laws of war were respected and enemies treated as human beings. One such place was Camp Opelika, a POW camp for approximately 3,000 German soldiers located in Lee County in east-central Alabama—a wartime haven where enemy prisoners received humane treatment Daniel Hutchinson Daniel Hutchinson is an assistant professor of history at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont , North Carolina. Daniel would like to thank the following for their assistance in preparing this article and in documenting the German POW experience in Alabama: Dr. James Tent, Joachim Metzner, Mary Bess Paluzzi of the Aliceville Museum and Cultural Center, Dr. Maxine Jones, Ashley Greene, and Meghan Martinez. Special thanks goes to the editors and anonymous reviewers of the Alabama Review for their comments and suggestions , and to the Museum of East Alabama for generously providing images for this article. 1 S. P. MacKenzie, “The Treatment of Prisoners of War in World War II,” Journal of Modern History 66 (September 1994): 487; John Dower, War without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War (New York, 1986), 48. the alabama review 286 by members of the American military and by the people of Alabama. The prisoners at Camp Opelika considered themselves “the most fortunate of prisoners.”2 Camp Opelika’s story is a part of the remarkable experience of the approximately 425,000 Axis POWs held in the United States during World War II.3 By the war’s end more than five hundred POW camps were built to house some 370,000 German, 50,000 Italian, and 5,000 Japanese prisoners.4 Approximately 16,000 of these prisoners were interned in Alabama within twenty-four camps scattered across the state. Various aspects of the history of Alabama’s POWs have been addressed in previous scholarship.5 With the exception of the work of local historian Albert Killian, however, the history of Camp Opelika has been largely unaddressed.6 Camp Opelika is nonetheless worthy of attention. In many ways, the facility typifies the overall Axis POW experience in America during World War II. By understanding this camp’s history the larger story of German POWs across the United States becomes clearer. Camp Opelika also possessed characteristics 2 Edouard Patte, Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Inspection Report, September 18, 1945, Records of the Office of the Provost Marshal General, Record Group (RG) 389, entry 459A, box 1618, file 255, Camp Opelika, National Archives and Records Administration , Archives II, College Park, MD (hereafter cited as PMGO Records, NARA II). 3 Notable works in the scholarly literature regarding the German POW experience in America not noted elsewhere in this article include: Robert D. Billinger Jr., Hitler’s Soldiers in the Sunshine State: German POWs in Florida (Gainesville, FL, 2000), and Matthias Reiß, “Die Schwarzen waren unsere Freunde”: Deutsche Kriegsgefangene in der amerikanischen Gesellschaft, 1942–1946 (Paderborn, Germany, 2002). 4 George G. Lewis and John Mewha, History of Prisoner of War Utilization by the United States Army, 1776–1945 (Washington, DC, 1955), 90–91. 5 W. Stanley Hoole, “Alabama’s World War II Prisoner of War Camps,” Alabama Review 20 (April 1967): 83–114; Ruth Cook, Guests Behind the Barbed Wire: German POWs in America, A True Story...

CITY OF BASKETBALL LOVE: PHILADELPHIA AND THE NURTURING OF BLACK MALES’ HOOP DREAMS

The highly disproportionate number of successful black male players at the collegiate and professional ranks has come to be taken for granted--African Americans are simply the best basketball players. Becoming a basketball player is a typical way for young working-class and poor African American males to establish their masculine identity. (1) Young African American boys are playing basketball and exhibiting masculinity simultaneously as they imitate other males they consider proficient basketball players. Moreover, playing basketball is, at the same time, a racialized and socioeconomically stratified activity. Most of the great players since the 1960s have come from relatively poor, African American neighborhoods. Social environment is central to possibility, identity, and mobility; an awareness of one's possibilities, opportunities, and networks is shaped by where we are. Social environments and locales have a profound effect on what children come to see as important, viable, and status-aggrandizing. People do not develop ideas, aspirations, or social identities in a vacuum; social environments are imbued with natural resources and opportunities. Philadelphia is arguably the most complete basketball city in the nation because of its long history of basketball, the number of legends who have hailed from there, and the levels and depth of social organization and competitive play (high school, college, and professional). (2) This essay is based on more than a decade of fieldwork and considers Philadelphia's historical and present influence on young African American men aspiring to become ballplayers. (3) Claude Gross's basketball career coincided with the change of collegiate and professional basketball from being a sport dominated by whites to being dominated by African Americans. In the 1940s and 1950s Philadelphia proved to be a great training ground for Gross beyond high school, and eventually became his classroom for mentoring young African American men through basketball. Gross speaks of the instrumental role that older men played in his social and basketball development, as well as the social organization of basketball in Philadelphia. He played at several playgrounds and received teaching from and was coached by older African American men. These men went out of their way to advise, instruct, and correct Gross. They started basketball teams, organized games, and took teams around and outside the city to play. Philadelphia was and continues to be a place where basketball is prized and encouraged, teeming with basketball opportunities such that players can play throughout the city all year-round. (4) It is in this environment, living in a basketball city, that Gross grew into manhood and fashioned himself into a basketball player, a title he still carries in his seventies. SPORTS AND THE CITY Although the evolution of sport is rarely included in discussions of cities or vice versa, the correlation between the two is significant. The growth of metropolitan areas influenced the development of organized sport and recreation in United States. (5) Most major, contemporary sports began or became highly specialized, organized, commercialized, and professionalized in cities. At the same time, sport has shaped cities, as urban areas have long been the primary sites of world-class sports facilities. (6) Basketball was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. The game was created in 1891 by a Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) recreational director. James Naismith, as a form of winter sports participation and has been a part of urban life ever since. The game traveled quickly throughout Fast Coast cities and into the nearby Midwest. It gained popularity because of its simplicity; it did not require the same amount of equipment and resources as baseball or football, the most popular sports at the time for urban denizens. Instead, one needed only a ball and basket. This made the game accessible to youth in the poorer classes who were often excluded from upper-class organizations and athletic social clubs formed in the city where wealthy white Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) competed and fellowshipped with persons of the same class, reinforcing social boundaries. …

Collaborative Approach to Implementing an Adapted Diabetes Prevention Program Lifestyle Intervention

This study evaluated weight loss and cardiometabolic risk reduction achieved through an adapted Diabetes Prevention Program lifestyle intervention among adults at high risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes. A 16-session lifestyle intervention was delivered through a partnership between a diabetes self-management education (DSME) program and the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). Overweight adults with ≥ 1 additional risk factors for CVD or diabetes were enrolled (n = 265). Lifestyle coaches from the DSME program coordinated intervention delivery and taught the curriculum. YMCA staff delivered the physical activity component of the intervention. Two-hundred and nineteen participants (83%) completed the program. Seventy-five percent of participants achieved the physical activity goal (≥ 150 minutes/week), 34% achieved the 7% weight loss goal, and 60% achieved weight loss ≥ 5%. There were significant improvements in cardiometabolic risk factors among participants completing the intervention. Our findings suggest that an adapted lifestyle intervention can be successfully implemented through collaboration between a DSME program and a YMCA. Implementation of effective prevention programs in multiple settings throughout the United States will be needed to ensure that the large subpopulation of adults at high risk for CVD and diabetes have access to this prevention service.

Exeter-Hall Science and Evangelical Rhetoric in Mid-Victorian Britain

In the early and mid-Victorian period public pronouncements by evangelicals were often described as the antithesis of rational speech. The voice of science, by contrast, was routinely equated with the voice of reason. This disparity was particularly clear in satirical and critical commentary about the platform rhetoric associated with London's Exeter Hall, a key meeting place for evangelicals and a metonym for evangelical expressions of Christian belief. It was against this backdrop that the fledgling Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) inaugurated a popular series of lectures in 1845. Held in Exeter Hall from 1848, the series ran until 1865 and proved to be immensely popular. By investigating the ways in which the promotion of science was combined with religious exhortation in the YMCA lectures, this paper examines how evangelicals positioned themselves with respect to the growing cultural authority of science. The paper also argues that these efforts were indelibly marked by the Hall and the commun...

Involving the hard to reach: developing and evaluating a sexual health programme for early school leavers in Hong Kong

Early school leavers cannot access school-based sex education programmes, increasing their vulnerability to sexual health issues. This study evaluated a culturally-sensitive and target-orientated sex education programme involving this group. Early school leavers were recruited from two branches of the Chinese Young Men's Christian Association in Hong Kong. These potential peer educators (PEs) attended five three-hour workshops providing comprehensive sex and sexuality education. They then provided peers with sex education, whilst receiving continuing support and attending additional training and activities. The Safer Choice Student Health Questionnaire, Mathtech Student Course Evaluation and Student Assessment of Course Impact questionnaires and Behavioral Intent Questionnaire were used to assess attitudes towards the programme and changes in knowledge, attitudes, practices regarding sex and sexual health. Of 60 PEs, 97% completed the workshop course. Seven months post intervention, changes in attitude towards contraception (p = 0.01) and a lower likelihood of having sex (p < 0.001) were found amongst PEs. At 14 months, PEs were less likely to have sex (p < 0.001) and were more comfortable talking about sex with friends and family (p = 0.01) but no difference was observed in pre-training and post-training tests among 545 targeted peers. The intervention successfully engaged the heavily involved PEs, and had some positive effects on their willingness to discuss sexual health issues, their perceived likelihood of having and their attitude towards sexual intercourse.

Relations between the Lutheran Church and the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in Slovakia between 1921 and 1930

Relations between the Lutheran Church and the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in Slovakia between 1921 and 1930

Pilot study: Mindful Eating and Living (MEAL): Weight, eating behavior, and psychological outcomes associated with a mindfulness-based intervention for people with obesity

The purpose of this study was to pilot a brief (6-week) group curriculum for providing mindfulness training to obese individuals, called Mindful Eating and Living (MEAL). Participants were recruited through a local Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in spring 2006. Data was collected at three time points: baseline, completion of intervention (6 weeks), and 3-month follow-up (12 weeks). Six weekly two-hour group classes (with two monthly follow-up classes). Content included training in mindfulness meditation, mindful eating, and group discussion, with emphasis on awareness of body sensations, emotions, and triggers to overeat. Key variables assessed included changes in weight, body-mass index (BMI), eating behavior, and psychological distress. In addition, physiological markers of cardiovascular risk were evaluated including C-reactive protein (hsCRP), adiponectin, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1). Ten obese patients enrolled with a mean BMI of 36.9 kg/m² [SD±6.2]. The mean weight was 101 kg/m² and the mean age was 44 years (SD=8.7; range=31-62). Compared to baseline data, participants showed statistically significant increases in measures of mindfulness and cognitive restraint around eating, and statistically significant decreases in weight, eating disinhibition, binge eating, depression, perceived stress, physical symptoms, negative affect, and C-reactive protein. This study provides preliminary evidence that a eating focused mindfulness-based intervention can result in significant changes in weight, eating behavior, and psychological distress in obese individuals.

Informal training in staff networks to support dissemination of health promotion programs.

To study informal skill transfer via staff networks as a complement to formal training among afterschool childcare providers implementing a health promotion program. Cross-sectional, sociometric network analysis. Boston Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) afterschool programs implementing the iPLAY program. All 91 staff members at 20 sites were eligible; 80 completed the survey (88% response rate). At the network level, network density measured system-level connectedness. At the staff level, the independent variable was out degree, the number of individuals to whom respondents noted a program-related connection. The dependent variable was skill gains, the number of key implementation skills gained from the network. We mapped the staff program-related social network. We utilized multiple linear regression to estimate the relationship between out degree and skill gains, and we adjusted for clustering of staff in sites. Most staff (77%) reported gaining at least one skill from the network, but only 2% of potential network connections were established. The regression model showed that out degree (i.e., number of program-related contacts) was significantly associated with skill gains (beta = .48, p < .01) independent of other variables. Informal skill transfer in staff networks may be a useful complement to formal training for implementation of health promotion programs, but informal skill transfer was likely underutilized in this network. Future research employing longitudinal and/or multisite data should examine these findings in greater detail.

A Hunger for Books: the American YMCA Press and Russian Readers

This article traces the history of the involvement of the American Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) with Russian-language publishing from its beginnings to the end of the twentieth century. During the period between the two world wars this was the primary source of Russian Orthodox theological and philosophical literature. In addition, it served as a catalyst for ferment within Orthodoxy by providing a forum for heated debate, especially in the pages of Put’, a unique interdisciplinary journal of Christian thought. The unique role of the YMCA Press in the Russian emigration has been noted in a variety of studies. However, such evaluations usually do not pay attention to the original Protestant leadership of this remarkable Orthodox publishing house, the political impact of its avowedly non-political efforts, and the recent activities of the YMCA Press in Russia and Ukraine after the end of communism. The Press played a major role in preserving an important aspect of prerevolutionary Russian culture in Western Europe during the Soviet period until the repatriation of this culture following the collapse of the Soviet Union. In this way, the Press contributed to the expansion and enrichment of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. This publishing house for all these years has been giving to Russians living in Russia the real bread of life. … I really have to testify that the hunger for books is really a much greater hunger than the hunger for food. … The greatest help that we can receive is precisely the kind of help that was given to us by Paul Anderson. (Anderson, n.d.a, preface)

La place de la religion dans l'éducation par le YMCA des travailleurs chinois de la Grande Guerre

SUMMARY. — During the First World War, 140 000 Chinese workers served in France under British and French command. The YMCA (Young Men Christian Association), which was very active in China, provided interpreters and organized a system of animation and education of these workers, inside the many camps in France. The objective of YMCA was explicitly to promote religious education and conversion in China, once the workers returned home. We examine here the global politics of YMCA and its effects, and analyze the religious content of what was taught to the workers.