Female Athlete Triad (FATr) is a condition with the potential of long-term adverse effects on health and sports performance in female athletes. Coaches' awareness and knowledge can play a critical role for primary prevention, early detection, and management of the triad. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the awareness, knowledge and perceptions of Singaporean coaches on Female Athlete Triad. The study was a cross-sectional survey with 106 participant coaches (81 males; 25 females) from the Singapore National Registry of Coaches. A 31-item questionnaire was developed to determine the perceptions, awareness, and knowledge on Female Athlete Triad. The coaches' responses were obtained in the presence of the research team. Data analyzed included demographic and coaching practice information, awareness and knowledge levels, gender differences in knowledge and differences in awareness, and knowledge between participants with different levels of coaching qualification. A 100% response rate was achieved. The knowledge levels were found to be low with 85% coaches not having heard of the Female Athlete Triad, 89% coaches not able to identify at least one component of the triad, and only two coaches being able to correctly identify the three components of Female Athlete Triad. A significant proportion of coaches had misperceptions related to low body fat, leanness, menstrual irregularity, and bone health in female athletes. There was no significant difference in knowledge based on gender, level of coaching qualification, and years of coaching experience. Coaches have low levels of awareness and knowledge on Female Athlete Triad. The misperceptions and knowledge gaps need to be addressed through multifaceted coach education programs developing the awareness and knowledge on Female Athlete Triad, skills for early recognition of warning signs, early athlete referral to health professionals and attitudes and skills for regular communication with the athletes on nutrition, menstrual history, and bone health.
Poor achievement in mathematics is an issue of great concern for many countries across the globe. Fiji is one of the countries in the South Pacific experiencing the same trends, pressures, and concerns. This study aims to seek the views of stakeholders (students, teachers, heads of departments, and school heads) with regards to the causes of poor achievement in mathematics at the senior grades of secondary schools in the districts of Ba and Tavua, Fiji. A descriptive design using both quantitative and qualitative approaches were utilized whereby data were collected from 201 upper secondary school respondents comprising 171 students, 16 mathematics teachers, 7 department heads, and 7 school heads from seven randomly selected schools in the districts of Ba and Tavua. The study found that the students had a negative attitude toward mathematics. It was also found that an ineffective mathematics curriculum in secondary schools was the reason behind poor performance in the subject. Moreover, many of the primary school teachers lacked potential and competence to teach mathematics at primary school levels, and this largely contributed toward the lack of interest amongst students, hence translating into poor achievement at both upper and lower secondary levels. On the other hand, however, it was gathered that secondary school teachers were rather positive, good quality, performing, and fully qualified as far as the teaching of mathematics and delivery of the subject matter was concerned. Review and amendments to the year 12 and 13 mathematics curriculum, use of technologies to teach mathematics, improving the quality of primary school mathematics teachers, reducing the emphasis on exams, introducing internal assessments, projects, and field work in the mathematics curriculum were a few of the significant recommendations made from this study.
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