A systematic review of sport-based adolescent mental health awareness programmes.
<h4>Background</h4>Adolescent mental illness is of increasing concern, with a high prevalence in many parts of the world. Early engagement, detection and receiving support are warranted to reduce the severity of symptoms. Increasing mental health literacy (MHL) through sport to adolescen...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315315 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849770004764950528 |
|---|---|
| author | Nora Sullivan Gavin Breslin Marian McLaughlin Stephen Shannon Gerard Leavey Martin Dempster |
| author_facet | Nora Sullivan Gavin Breslin Marian McLaughlin Stephen Shannon Gerard Leavey Martin Dempster |
| author_sort | Nora Sullivan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <h4>Background</h4>Adolescent mental illness is of increasing concern, with a high prevalence in many parts of the world. Early engagement, detection and receiving support are warranted to reduce the severity of symptoms. Increasing mental health literacy (MHL) through sport to adolescents is one way of engaging young people and signposting them to services. The aim of this systematic review was to identify the effect of interventions, risk of bias, and theoretical application in sport-based adolescent mental health awareness programmes.<h4>Methods</h4>Six electronic databases (MEDLINE Ovid, PsycINFO, Scopus, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, Cochrane) were searched from 2012 to September 2022 (updated January 2024). Inclusion criteria stated the sample had to include adolescents aged 11-17 years, include mental health outcomes, and a sport component.<h4>Results</h4>Six studies met the inclusion criteria. Sample size ranged from nine to 816 participants. Four distinct sport-based programmes were evaluated, with three interventions applying a psychological behaviour change theory. The results of the interventions indicated positive effects on several indices of MHL, such as increased knowledge of mental health, depression and anxiety literacy and the recognition of disorders, increased resilience and intentions to provide help. It was found that addressing stigma remains a challenge. The interventions produced the most significant effects for those who scored lower at baseline measures and the younger cohorts.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Sport is useful for the engagement and dissemination of mental health awareness information to adolescents. Given the limited number of psychological theory informed interventions, there is a need for further interventions that explicitly adopt behaviour change theories and improve the quality of research design for these interventions. The findings from this review will be of interest to health promotion and public health practitioners and those designing mental health awareness programmes for adolescents.<h4>Systematic review registration</h4>PROSPERO CRD42022312260. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e27aea3fbdd9464c93d74151d1d30f7c |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-e27aea3fbdd9464c93d74151d1d30f7c2025-08-20T03:03:11ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01203e031531510.1371/journal.pone.0315315A systematic review of sport-based adolescent mental health awareness programmes.Nora SullivanGavin BreslinMarian McLaughlinStephen ShannonGerard LeaveyMartin Dempster<h4>Background</h4>Adolescent mental illness is of increasing concern, with a high prevalence in many parts of the world. Early engagement, detection and receiving support are warranted to reduce the severity of symptoms. Increasing mental health literacy (MHL) through sport to adolescents is one way of engaging young people and signposting them to services. The aim of this systematic review was to identify the effect of interventions, risk of bias, and theoretical application in sport-based adolescent mental health awareness programmes.<h4>Methods</h4>Six electronic databases (MEDLINE Ovid, PsycINFO, Scopus, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, Cochrane) were searched from 2012 to September 2022 (updated January 2024). Inclusion criteria stated the sample had to include adolescents aged 11-17 years, include mental health outcomes, and a sport component.<h4>Results</h4>Six studies met the inclusion criteria. Sample size ranged from nine to 816 participants. Four distinct sport-based programmes were evaluated, with three interventions applying a psychological behaviour change theory. The results of the interventions indicated positive effects on several indices of MHL, such as increased knowledge of mental health, depression and anxiety literacy and the recognition of disorders, increased resilience and intentions to provide help. It was found that addressing stigma remains a challenge. The interventions produced the most significant effects for those who scored lower at baseline measures and the younger cohorts.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Sport is useful for the engagement and dissemination of mental health awareness information to adolescents. Given the limited number of psychological theory informed interventions, there is a need for further interventions that explicitly adopt behaviour change theories and improve the quality of research design for these interventions. The findings from this review will be of interest to health promotion and public health practitioners and those designing mental health awareness programmes for adolescents.<h4>Systematic review registration</h4>PROSPERO CRD42022312260.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315315 |
| spellingShingle | Nora Sullivan Gavin Breslin Marian McLaughlin Stephen Shannon Gerard Leavey Martin Dempster A systematic review of sport-based adolescent mental health awareness programmes. PLoS ONE |
| title | A systematic review of sport-based adolescent mental health awareness programmes. |
| title_full | A systematic review of sport-based adolescent mental health awareness programmes. |
| title_fullStr | A systematic review of sport-based adolescent mental health awareness programmes. |
| title_full_unstemmed | A systematic review of sport-based adolescent mental health awareness programmes. |
| title_short | A systematic review of sport-based adolescent mental health awareness programmes. |
| title_sort | systematic review of sport based adolescent mental health awareness programmes |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315315 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT norasullivan asystematicreviewofsportbasedadolescentmentalhealthawarenessprogrammes AT gavinbreslin asystematicreviewofsportbasedadolescentmentalhealthawarenessprogrammes AT marianmclaughlin asystematicreviewofsportbasedadolescentmentalhealthawarenessprogrammes AT stephenshannon asystematicreviewofsportbasedadolescentmentalhealthawarenessprogrammes AT gerardleavey asystematicreviewofsportbasedadolescentmentalhealthawarenessprogrammes AT martindempster asystematicreviewofsportbasedadolescentmentalhealthawarenessprogrammes AT norasullivan systematicreviewofsportbasedadolescentmentalhealthawarenessprogrammes AT gavinbreslin systematicreviewofsportbasedadolescentmentalhealthawarenessprogrammes AT marianmclaughlin systematicreviewofsportbasedadolescentmentalhealthawarenessprogrammes AT stephenshannon systematicreviewofsportbasedadolescentmentalhealthawarenessprogrammes AT gerardleavey systematicreviewofsportbasedadolescentmentalhealthawarenessprogrammes AT martindempster systematicreviewofsportbasedadolescentmentalhealthawarenessprogrammes |