Centre for Youth Mental Health - Research Publications
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ItemThe Mental Health of Elite Athletes: A Narrative Systematic Review(ADIS INT LTD, 2016-09)BACKGROUND: The physical impacts of elite sport participation have been well documented; however, there is comparatively less research on the mental health and psychological wellbeing of elite athletes. OBJECTIVE: This review appraises the evidence base regarding the mental health and wellbeing of elite-level athletes, including the incidence and/or nature of mental ill-health and substance use. METHODS: A systematic search of the PubMed, EMBASE, SPORTDiscus, PsycINFO, Cochrane and Google Scholar databases, up to and including May 2015, was conducted. RESULTS: The search yielded a total of 2279 records. Following double screening, 60 studies were included. The findings suggested that elite athletes experience a broadly comparable risk of high-prevalence mental disorders (i.e. anxiety, depression) relative to the general population. Evidence regarding other mental health domains (i.e. eating disorders, substance use, stress and coping) is less consistent. These results are prefaced, however, by the outcome of the quality assessment of the included studies, which demonstrated that relatively few studies (25 %) were well reported or methodologically rigorous. Furthermore, there is a lack of intervention-based research on this topic. CONCLUSION: The evidence base regarding the mental health and wellbeing of elite athletes is limited by a paucity of high-quality, systematic studies. Nonetheless, the research demonstrates that this population is vulnerable to a range of mental health problems (including substance misuse), which may be related to both sporting factors (e.g. injury, overtraining and burnout) and non-sporting factors. More high-quality epidemiological and intervention studies are needed to inform optimal strategies to identify and respond to player mental health needs.
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ItemMapping the Evidence of Prevention and Intervention Studies for Suicidal and Self-Harming Behaviors in Young People(HOGREFE & HUBER PUBLISHERS, 2013)BACKGROUND: Suicide and self-harm (SSH) in young people is a major cause of disability-adjusted life years. Effective interventions are of critical importance to reducing the mortality and morbidity associated with SSH. AIMS: To investigate the extent and nature of research on interventions to prevent and treat SSH in young people using evidence mapping. METHOD: A systematic search for SSH intervention studies was conducted (participant mean age between 6-25 years). The studies were restricted to high-quality evidence in the form of systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and controlled trials. RESULTS: Thirty-eight controlled studies and six systematic reviews met the study inclusion criteria. The majority (n = 32) involved psychological interventions. Few studies (n = 9) involved treating young people with recognized mental disorders or substance abuse (n = 1) which also addressed SSH. CONCLUSION: The map was restricted to RCTs, CCTs, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses, and thus might have neglected important information from other study designs. The effectiveness of interventions within the trials was not evaluated. The evidence base for SSH interventions in young people is not well established, which hampers best-practice efforts in this area. Promising interventions that need further research include school-based prevention programs with a skills training component, individual CBT interventions, interpersonal psychotherapy, and attachment-based family therapy. Gaps in the research exist in evaluations of interventions for SSH in young people with identifiable psychopathology, particularly substance use disorder, and research that classifies participants on the basis of their suicidal intent.