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Different approaches to treatment for mental health problems in military veterans continue to attract research attention. In addition to the NICE-approved treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder such as trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy and eye-movement desensitisation and reprocessing, a number of novel and innovative approaches have recently been developed. One such approach is encapsulated under the emerging paradigm of 'exercise as/is medicine'. Following recent calls to strengthen the evidence base for new and emerging mental health treatments for veterans, this paper presents a commentary on current evidence in support of 'exercise as medicine' derived from qualitative research studies. It is concluded that qualitative research has made a significant contribution to the emerging evidence base for exercise-based interventions. This evidence base can be used to inform current debates about quality assurance in the area of veterans' mental health-care and to underpin quality provision for service users. Qualitative research also has a significant future contribution to make towards improving the evaluation of novel treatment approaches, generating more impactful research and increasing the applicability of research findings in 'exercise as/is medicine'. The paper closes with some critical reflections on the role of exercise-based interventions as a means of helping veterans improve their mental health.

In recent years, qualitative researchers have in varied ways conceptualized selves and identities as narratively constructed. In this article, we offer a typology for viewing, the various conceptualizations of narrative identities and selves. Five perspectives are presented for discussion. These are, the psychosocial, the inter-subjective, the storied resource, the dialogic and the performative perspectives. Insights into contrasts between them are also generated by exploring the emphasis given by each perspective to both the social and individual in creating selves and identities. These contrasts are organized along a continuum, with perspectives that adopt a `thick individual' and `thin social relational' view to the self and identity at one end, and those that adopt a `thin individual' and `thick social relational' view at the other. We close by suggesting that each perspective is worthy of consideration in its own right and that coexistence is possible despite their differences.

Based on life history data, this article explores how time is experienced by three men who have become disabled through playing sport. Comparisons are made between their experiences of time at the following periods in their lives: (a) pre-spinal cord injury (SCI) when they inhabited able bodied, sporting, disciplined and dominating bodies; (b) immediately following SCI during rehabilitation; and (c) as they live at the moment post-SCI. The ways in which three different narratives operate to shape the post-SCI experiences of time for these men are highlighted, and the implications of this process for their identity (re)construction as disabled men is discussed.

Based on life history data, this article explores the manner in which coherence is constructed in the narratives told by two men who have acquired a spinal cord injury through playing sport. Drawing on the principles advocated by Gubrium and Holstein, and Holstein and Gubrium, along with a number of analytic concepts provided by others (e.g. Frank, Gerschick and Miller, Leder, van Manen and Yoshida), we illustrate how various narrative practices inform this process and how they are framed by both the local and cultural conventions of telling. It is suggested that coherence is not an inherent feature of narratives but is both artfully crafted in the telling and drawn from the available meanings, structures and linkages that comprise stories.

This article focuses on the narrative identity dilemmas of four men who have experienced spinal cord injury (SCI) through playing rugby football union and now define themselves as disabled. The biographical data illustrate how body-self relationships moved from an absent presence in the lives of these men to something that was other, problematic, and alien. This transformation instigated anxieties concerning the combined loss of specific masculine and athletic identities that were formerly at the apex of the participants' identity hierarchy. In such circumstances, the desire for a restored self is highlighted, as are the limited narrative resources that frame this coping strategy. Suggestions for how this situation might be changed are then offered.

Objectives: Little attention has been given to how Para athletes use their platforms for disability activism. This paper fills this gap by examining how Irish Para athletes take actions to create social change around disability. Methods: A qualitative methodology was adopted. 28 elite-level Irish Para athletes were recruited and participated in interviews. The data set was analysed using a reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Three themes: 'Para athlete activisms' captures different ways of doing disability activism; 'tensions between different activist identities' concerns (hyper)critical discourses about various activist identities; 'ableist influences on Para sport culture' captures contexts that enable or prevent performing disability activism. Conclusions: The central theoretical contribution is an interpretation of Para athlete activism in terms of a contextually informed continuum of behaviour change. This article is an evidence base for Para sport cultures that wish to connect with disability activism. Practical opportunities are discussed around the psychology of adversity, social legacy value, identity politics and challenging ableism.

This paper provides a series of critical reflections on the tensions involved in researching the lives of military veterans. In particular, tensions arising when civilian researchers attempt to speak on behalf of veterans, combined with problematic attempts to achieve an academic 'understanding' of veterans' lives generate concerns regarding the potential misrepresentation of their unique experiences. Following recent examples in critical military studies, these issues are brought to the fore through dialogue and critical debate with colleagues and research participants. The paper first introduces a theoretical backdrop to the tensions being debated. Following Gadamer, the concept of 'horizons of understanding' is then introduced to suggest how we might usefully consider and addresses these tensions. Horizons comprise that which we are able to understand based on prior knowing. It is argued that 'dialogical' research constitutes one possible means of expanding our horizons in work with veterans. Challenges to dialogical research are discussed in light of prevailing conditions within and beyond neoliberal academia, before concluding with practical suggestions of how dialogical research might generate more productive and responsible research with military veterans.

This article reflects on the use of a smartphone application ('app') in qualitative research following the experience of the FREE (Football Research in an Enlarged Europe) project, which investigated the lives of football fans in the UK. To meet this aim, a participant-focused audiovisual methodology was designed, featuring the use of an app to collect data. Fans were asked to take photographs and keep diaries to show the role football plays in their lives. The smartphone app was developed to allow fans to use their own mobile phones, capturing qualitative data in 'real time'. The paper reflects on our experience of using the smartphone app in this qualitative research, analysing the advantages, disadvantages and the main risks that researchers will need to take into account when using smartphone apps in their future qualitative research projects. We encourage others to build on and advance this under-researched but potentially valuable tool.