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Actual and wished supports to promote a successful dual career according to Italian student-athletes’ point of view

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Abstract

Purpose

The present study aimed to investigate the actual and wished supports to promote a successful dual career for Italian student-athletes.

Methods

An ad hoc questionnaire (nine items) was administered to 711 academic Italian student-athletes (age = 23 ± 4 years). A binomial regression for categorical outcomes was applied to discriminate subcategories for each item.

Results

According to the items which could be considered as more related to the actual and wished supports to promote a successful dual career, student-athletes mostly answered that tutoring (≤ 24 years old, 95%, OR 3.55; team, 95%, OR 2.27; elite, 97%, OR  3.33; not sport science path, 93–96%, OR range 3.45–7.69), e-learning (last year, 95%, OR 1.97), and extra-academic merits (team, 71%, OR 1.47; elite, 77%, OR  2.13) resulted as not satisfactorily supported by university, but highly wished by student-athletes. Also the flexibility in lesson frequency and exam sustainability resulted as strongly considered, but perceived as limited (≤ 24 years old, 84%, OR 2.43; Medical and Humanistic, 87%, with respect to Sport Science path, OR  9.01). In addition, in terms of identity, female (68%, OR  2.22), > 24 years old (68%, OR 2.22), sub-elite (68%, OR  2.22), not sport science (57–65%, OR  2.48–2.03), and last year of attendance (62%, OR 3.45) participants showed to be more student-oriented, whereas elite (60%), sport science path (61%), and out of course (56%) student-athletes perceived themselves as mainly athletic-oriented.

Conclusion

Italian student-athletes could be better supported by University in complying sport and academic requirements, especially by means of an improvement in tutoring, e-learning and a more flexible schedule, in line with the European Commission guidelines.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NeuroMuscular Function Research Group, School of Exercise and Sport Sciences, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

    Paolo Riccardo Brustio, Alberto Rainoldi & Corrado Lupo

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

    Cristina Onesta Mosso

  3. Faculty of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences (INEF), Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), Madrid, Spain

    Cristina López de Subijana

Authors
  1. Paolo Riccardo Brustio
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  2. Alberto Rainoldi
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  3. Cristina Onesta Mosso
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  4. Cristina López de Subijana
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  5. Corrado Lupo
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Correspondence to Corrado Lupo.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

In addition, the study was approved by the Bioethics Committee of the University of Torino (Turin, Italy; protocol number 20743). All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Written consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Brustio, P.R., Rainoldi, A., Mosso, C.O. et al. Actual and wished supports to promote a successful dual career according to Italian student-athletes’ point of view. Sport Sci Health 16, 625–634 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-020-00635-5

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