International consensus statement on the psychosocial and policy-related approaches to mental health awareness programmes in sport

Abstract

BackgroundResearch focused on mental health in sport has revealed a need to develop evidence-supported mental health practices that are sensitive to sport culture, particularly for non-elite athletes. A consensus statement was produced to assist effective mental health awareness in sport and guide programme implementation in this rapidly emerging field.MethodThe AGREE Reporting Checklist 2016 was used in two international expert consultation meetings, followed by two online surveys. Experts from 10 countries and over 30 organisations contributed.ResultsSix objectives were agreed: (1) to define mental health awareness and service implementation constructs for inclusion in programmes delivered in sporting environments; (2) to identify the need to develop and use valid measures that are developmentally appropriate for use in intervention studies with sporting populations, including measures of mental health that quantify symptom severity but also consider causal and mediating factors that go beyond pathology (ie, well-being and optimisation); (3) to provide guidance on the selection of appropriate models to inform intervention design, implementation and evaluation; (4) to determine minimal competencies of training for those involved in sport to support mental health, those experiencing mental illness and when to refer to mental health professionals; (5) to provide evidence-based guidance for selecting mental health awareness and implementation programmes in sport that acknowledge diversity and are quality assured; and (6) to identify the need for administrators, parents, officials, coaches, athletes and workers to establish important roles in the promotion of mental health in various sports settings.ConclusionThis article presents a consensus statement on recommended psychosocial and policy-related approaches to mental health awareness programmes in sport.

Exploring Mental Health and Illness in the UK Sports Coaching Workforce

“…These include the following: the tendency for the success and continued employment of high-performance coaches to be largely dependent upon athlete performance; many high-performance coaches are also self-employed and retained on short-term contracts; and in Olympic and Paralympic sports especially, coaches’ employment and mental health are typically tied to the constraints of four-yearly funding cycles. However, it is clear that there is also a significant need to support the mental health of grassroots/community coaches, including through mental health awareness training and support, and interventions which address the diverse sources of key stressors inside or outside of their organisation, including the constraints associated with balancing other work and family commitments and negotiating the pressures exerted from significant others [ 1 , 5 , 13 , 21 , 37 ]. Our findings suggest that, for many coaches, services provided by people outside of the organisations were most preferred, while those provided exclusively inside the organisation for which they work, or volunteer, were least preferable.…”

“…The kind and quality of coaches’ workplace relations, an ability to achieve a healthy work–life balance and high levels of workplace control [ 5 , 9 , 26 ], the effective management of boundaries between work and other aspects of life [ 26 , 36 ], and the avoidance of role ambiguity and having too many responsibilities are thus among the effective ways of safeguarding personal mental health and maximising performance [ 5 ]. Together with high levels of mental health literacy and supportive workplace mental health cultures [ 13 ], they also provide the foundations upon which coaches might effectively support the mental health of others, which is one among many responsibilities coaches now assume across all levels of sport and physical activity [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 21 ], and in many countries [ 1 , 22 , 23 , 24 ].…”

“…There is growing international concern about individual and population mental health, and the prevalence of mental illness, whether in sport [ 1 , 2 ] or other aspects of the wider society [ 3 ]. ( Appendix A ) In a sporting context, increasing attention has been paid to the mental health and illness of various groups, including participants, coaches and officials in community (local level) and high-performance sport (at national and international levels).…”

“…Other research has focused on the need to explore other mental health parameters than burnout in coaches [ 16 ], the role coaches are expected to play in supporting the mental health of others, especially young people [ 17 , 18 ], parents’ views on the roles of coaches in supporting mental health [ 19 , 20 ], and the need to provide coaches with evidence-based guidance on mental health to help facilitate the inclusion of participants who experience, or have experienced, mental illness [ 21 ]. Several international consensus statements [ 1 , 22 , 23 , 24 ] have pointed to the important role coaches are expected to play in supporting athlete mental health, seeking help for their own mental health, the need for coach education and training programmes focused on mental health and suicide, and the role of coaches (and others) in co-creating mental health promotion in diverse sport settings.…”

Developing a Japanese Version of the Baron Depression Screener for Athletes among Male Professional Rugby Players

“…Expert opinions and statements of several international sports committees have been published over the past few years, and mental health support for elite athletes has attracted rising attention [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]. These academic and practical movements are based on findings from epidemiological surveys [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ], mainly in the United States, European countries, and Australia.…”