Developing mental health literacy and cultural competence in elite sport

Gorczynski, Paul; Currie, Alan; Gibson, Kass; Gouttebarge, Vincent; Hainline, Brian; Castaldelli-Maia, João Maurício; Mountjoy, Margo; Purcell, Rosemary; Reardon, Claudia L.; Rice, Simon; Swartz, Leslie

doi:10.1080/10413200.2020.1720045

Cited by 85 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Intervention with the cyclists initiated about 3 weeks after the initial point of lockdown. Authors designed the intervention responding to components included in recent definitions of Mental Health Literacy (Furnham and Swami, 2018 ) with an emphasis on sport-specific needs and priorities (Gorczynski et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

How Does a Sport Psychological Intervention Help Professional Cyclists to Cope With Their Mental Health During the COVID-19 Lockdown?

Bertollo

Forzini²,

Biondi³

et al. 2021

Front. Psychol.

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All around the world in March, due to COVID-19, competitive sport calendars were suddenly canceled, jeopardizing the training programs of athletes. Moreover, in Italy, the government banned all non-essential travel across the entire country from the beginning of March. Consequently, Italian cyclists were banned from leaving their homes and therefore unable to perform their ordinary training activities. The Italian Association of Professional Cyclists (ACCPI) early on during that period noticed that several cyclists were experiencing a worrying decrease in their mental well-being and asked the authors to set up an online Sport Psychology Intervention (SPI) during lockdown to enhance the athletes' mental health. Through a number of unprecedented events and considerations, the aim of the current investigation was to assess the Italian cyclists' mental health during the lockdown and its changes after the SPI. We validated the Italian version of the Sport Mental Health Continuum Short Form (Sport MHC-SF)—presented in Study 1—and then applied it to a sample of Italian professional cyclists—presented in Study 2—prior to and after the SPI. To achieve these objectives, the reliability and construct validity of the Italian version of the Sport MHC-SF were tested in Study 1. RM-MANOVA tests were run to evaluate the effect of SPI on cyclists in Study 2. A total of 185 Italian athletes were involved in the validation of the MHC in Study 1 and 38 professional cyclists in Study 2. Results from Study 1 suggested a three-factor higher order model of Sport MHC-SF [Model fit: χ2(df) = 471.252 (252), p < 0.000; CFI = 0.951; RMSEA = 0.049; RMR= 0.048]. MCFA showed that the default model kept invariance among groups of athletes (i.e., female, male, individual, and team sports). Results from Study 2 highlighted that professional cyclists who followed the SPI were able to cope better with psychological stressors, showing improved well-being compared to the athletes that did not. No significant differences were found for emotional and social well-being. The present multi-study paper contributes to the theoretical field with a validated measure of Sport MHC-SF translated in the Italian language and culture. It also provides practical implications related to cases of reduced mental health due to injury, illness, or similar situations of home confinement in the future.

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Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

How Does a Sport Psychological Intervention Help Professional Cyclists to Cope With Their Mental Health During the COVID-19 Lockdown?

Bertollo

Forzini²,

Biondi³

et al. 2021

Front. Psychol.

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“…Elite athlete mental health problems recently attracted great discussion as a worldwide relevant phenomenon [1], including reference to sporting factors, such as injury, overtraining, burnout, and career termination as well as nonsporting factors [2,3]. The array of athlete-specific mental health symptoms and disorders such as distress, depression and suicide, anxiety and stress, overtraining, sport-related concussion, substance misuse, sleeping and eating disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related disorders, bipolar and psychotic disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, gambling disorder, and other behavioral addictions [4][5][6], are complicated by a range of social and psychological factors as well as attributes including personality, sexuality and gender issues, hazing, bullying, sexual misconduct, and transition from sport [6].…”

Section: Elite Athlete Mental Health Phenomenon and Digital Mental Hementioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological Screening and Tracking of Athletes and Digital Mental Health Solutions in a Hybrid Model of Care: Mini Review

Balcombe¹,

Leo²

2020

JMIR Form Res

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Background There is a persistent need for mental ill-health prevention and intervention among at-risk and vulnerable subpopulations. Major disruptions to life, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, present an opportunity for a better understanding of the experience of stressors and vulnerability. Faster and better ways of psychological screening and tracking are more generally required in response to the increased demand upon mental health care services. The argument that mental and physical health should be considered together as part of a biopsychosocial approach is garnering acceptance in elite athlete literature. However, the sporting population are unique in that there is an existing stigma of mental health, an underrecognition of mental ill-health, and engagement difficulties that have hindered research, prevention, and intervention efforts. Objective The aims of this paper are to summarize and evaluate the literature on athletes’ increased vulnerability to mental ill-health and digital mental health solutions as a complement to prevention and intervention, and to show relationships between athlete mental health problems and resilience as well as digital mental health screening and tracking, and faster and better treatment algorithms. Methods This mini review shapes literature in the fields of athlete mental health and digital mental health by summarizing and evaluating journal and review articles drawn from PubMed Central and the Directory of Open Access Journals. Results Consensus statements and systematic reviews indicated that elite athletes have comparable rates of mental ill-health prevalence to the general population. However, peculiar subgroups require disentangling. Innovative expansion of data collection and analytics is required to respond to engagement issues and advance research and treatment programs in the process. Digital platforms, machine learning, deep learning, and artificial intelligence are useful for mental health screening and tracking in various subpopulations. It is necessary to determine appropriate conditions for algorithms for use in recommendations. Partnered with real-time automation and machine learning models, valid and reliable behavior sensing, digital mental health screening, and tracking tools have the potential to drive a consolidated, measurable, and balanced risk assessment and management strategy for the prevention and intervention of the sequelae of mental ill-health. Conclusions Athletes are an at-risk subpopulation for mental health problems. However, a subgroup of high-level athletes displayed a resilience that helped them to positively adjust after a period of overwhelming stress. Further consideration of stress and adjustments in brief screening tools is recommended to validate this finding. There is an unrealized potential for broadening the scope of mental health, especially symptom and disorder interpretation. Digital platforms for psychological screening and tracking have been widely used among general populations, but there is yet to be an eminent athlete version. Sports in combination with mental health education should address the barriers to help-seeking by increasing awareness, from mental ill-health to positive functioning. A hybrid model of care is recommended, combining traditional face-to-face approaches along with innovative and evaluated digital technologies, that may be used in prevention and early intervention strategies.

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“…Work rooted in mental health literacy, provides individual and environmental programming designed to help athletes better understand mental health symptoms and disorders, address stigma and set intentions to seek support. 65 Indeed, the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) 66 is an organisation providing support and welfare programmes for professional cricketers within England and Wales. Alongside the England and Wales Cricket Board, they have been proactive in creating avenues of help for those in need of psychiatric expertise.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Narrative review of mental illness in cricket with recommendations for mental health support

McCabe

Peirce

Gorczynski

et al. 2021

BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med

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IntroductionEpidemiology reporting within the cricketing medical literature has emerged over the past 2 years, with a focus on physical injuries. Despite mental health in elite sport gaining increasing recognition, few studies have addressed mental health symptoms and disorders within cricket. Recently, cricketers have been prominent in the mainstream media describing their lived experiences of mental illness. As a result, some have withdrawn from competition and suggested there is an unmet need for mental health services within the sport.Objectives(i) To appraise the existing evidence on mental health symptoms and disorders amongst cricketers. (ii) To provide guidance on shaping mental health research and services within cricket.DesignA narrative review of the literature from inception of available databases until 26 July 2019, with analysis and recommendations.ResultsFive studies were included in this narrative review. Studies covered a range of mental health symptoms and disorders, including distress, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance, suicide, adverse alcohol use, illicit drug use, eating disorders and bipolar disorder. Results indicated that cricketers are at high risk for distress, anxiety, depression and adverse alcohol use. When compared with the general population, cricketers are more likely to experience anxiety and depressive symptoms. Rates of suicide were proposed to be high for test cricketers. Overall, studies to date have been of low quality, demonstrating non-rigorous research methods. Some studies have relied on non-validated questionnaires to collect self-reported data on mental health symptoms and disorders, while others have presented biographical data obtained through searches of the media.ConclusionsThe results of this narrative review highlight the lack of evidence underpinning mental health services for athletes within cricket. We suggest the following recommendations for future research and practice: (i) normalising mental health symptoms and disorders; (ii) working with and helping vulnerable demographic segments within the target population; (iii) designing and implementing early recognition systems of mental health symptoms and disorders; (iv) addressing the mental health needs of cricketers on a population basis.

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Developing mental health literacy and cultural competence in elite sport

Cited by 85 publications

References 46 publications

How Does a Sport Psychological Intervention Help Professional Cyclists to Cope With Their Mental Health During the COVID-19 Lockdown?

How Does a Sport Psychological Intervention Help Professional Cyclists to Cope With Their Mental Health During the COVID-19 Lockdown?

Psychological Screening and Tracking of Athletes and Digital Mental Health Solutions in a Hybrid Model of Care: Mini Review

Narrative review of mental illness in cricket with recommendations for mental health support

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