Creating a Healthy Space: Forensic Educators
Creating a Healthy Space: Forensic Educators' Sensemaking about Healthy Tournament Management Practices
Heather J. Carmack Dr. 0 1
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Follow this and additional works at: http://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/speaker-gavel Part of the Health Communication Commons, and the Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons Recommended Citation Carmack, H. J. (2016). Creating a healthy space: Forensic educators' sensemaking about healthy tournament management practices. Speaker & Gavel, 53(1), 5-24.
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Sensemaking about Healthy Tournament
Management Practices
Heather J. Carmack, PhD
James Madison University
Heather J. Carmack, Ph.D. (Ohio University)
Dr. Carmack is an assistant professor and Associate
Director of the Center for Health and Environmental
Communication in the School of Communication
Studies at James Madison University. Her research
areas include communicating about patient safety,
organizational responses to health and wellness, and
organizational socialization and culture. She holds a
PhD in Health Communication from Ohio University.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0
International License. This Article is brought to you for free and open access through
Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works at Minnesota State University,
Mankato. It has been accepted for inclusion in Speaker & Gavel by the Editor and Editorial Board
of Speaker & Gavel.
Proper APA citation for this article is:
Carmack, H. J. (2016). Creating a healthy space: Forensic educators’
sensemaking about healthy tournament management practices.
Speaker & Gavel, 53(1), 5-24.
Carmack
Creating a Healthy Space: Forensic Educators’
Sensemaking about Healthy Tournament
Management Practices
Heather J. Carmack
Page | 5
Organizations are increasingly becoming concerned with the health and well-being of their
members. To address these issues, organizations are creating wellness initiatives. One
organization concerned with the well-being of its members is collegiate forensics. Forensic
organizations have been working since the late 1990s to create formal and informal
wellness initiatives to address the health of students and educators at forensic tournaments.
The purpose of this study is to explore how collegiate forensic educators understand and
implement these initiatives and the tensions they encounter. Collegiate forensic educators
who host tournaments completed an open-ended qualitative questionnaire about formal
and informal wellness initiatives. The findings suggest that educators struggle with the
costs and logistics of tournaments and implementing these initiatives.
Huniversities as administrators reflect on the physical, mental, and economic
ealth and wellness continues to be an important topic for businesses and
strain poor health habits have on organizational member productivity
(Anderson, Harrison, Cooper, & Jané-Llopis, 2011; Bopp & Fallon, 2013; Farrell &
Geist-Martin, 2005; Geist-Martin & Scarduzio, 2011; Jack & Brewis, 2005; Langille et
al., 2011; Michaels & Greene, 2013; Reger, Williams, Kolar, Smith, & Douglas, 2002;
Watson & Gauthier, 2003)
. Not surprisingly, there is a reciprocal relationship between
work and health; increasing work hours and work-related stress leads to poor health and
poor health contributes to decreases in productivity and work quality and increases in
absenteeism
(Farrell & Geist-Martin, 2005)
.
These concerns have prompted administrators to encourage the adoption and
implementation of organizational wellness initiatives. These initiatives can include fitness
and nutrition classes, health referrals, ergonomic equipment, and employee assistance
programs to address drug and alcohol abuse
(Farrell & Geist-Martin, 2005)
; some
organizations are even building on-site wellness centers so members can exercise before,
during, or after work
(Zoller, 2004)
. These initiatives, which often offer members
bonuses for weight loss and the implementation of healthy habits, are designed to
Healthy Tournament
promote health and wellness as well as increase productivity
(McGillivray, 2005)
. From
an organizational member perspective, these initiatives can increase satisfaction with
work and the organization
(Grawitch, Trares, & Kohler, 2007)
. Grawitch, Trares, and
Kohler (2007) cautioned, however, that although it is important for organizations to
implement initiatives to promote health, it is equally important to focus on the needs of
organizational members (subordinates and supervisors) when designing the programs.
For example, considering members’ interests, level of (...truncated)