Mental Health Help-Seeking Clinical Trial
Official title:
The Elite Athlete Mental Health Strategy: A Randomised Controlled Trial of an Online Intervention for the Mental Health Help-Seeking of Elite Athletes
The purpose of this study is to determine whether positive mental health help-seeking attitudes, and behaviour in elite athletes can be increased through an online intervention.
Mental disorders account for approximately 30% of the non-fatal disease burden in Australia,
with the most prevalent disorders of depression, anxiety and substance use disorders
experienced by 18% of the population in any single year. These disorders are significantly
more common in young adulthood than at any other stage in the lifespan. Despite the
availability of effective treatments for many disorders, this high susceptibility in young
people is coupled with low rates of seeking professional help. As elite athletes have been
found to have less positive attitudes towards seeking help for mental health issues, and
they are most often young adults themselves, they may be even less likely than non-athletes
to utilise professional services. Although there is a strong relationship between exercise
and positive mental health, the prevalence of mental disorders in elite athletes is
currently not known. A literature review of the general literature on help seeking and a
series of focus groups with elite athletes from the Australian Institute of Sport conducted
by the current research group in 2008, suggested that help-seeking by these athletes might
be increased by improving their knowledge about mental health, reducing stigma, and
providing feedback about the symptoms of common mental disorders.
The current project was designed to test these possibilities utilising an online format. The
Elite Athlete Mental health Strategy (TEAMS) project comprises two phases: (1) a large scale
survey of the mental health status of elite athletes; (2) a randomised controlled trial of
the effectiveness of three interventions designed to increase help seeking attitudes and
help seeking behaviours related to mental disorders in elite athletes. These three
interventions are: destigmatisation and mental health literacy; feedback; and a help-seeking
list of resources. The study aims to compare the effectiveness of these three interventions
relative to each other and a control condition.
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Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label