A Systematic Review of Interventions to Promote Intercollegiate Student-Athlete Mental Health and Well-Being

Presenter

Dana E. Cisowski

Campus

Fitchburg State University

Sponsor

Jannette McMenamy, Department of Psychology, Fitchburg State University

Schedule

Session 5, 3:30 PM - 4:15 PM [Schedule by Time][Poster Grid for Time/Location]

Location

Poster Board A23, Campus Center Auditorium, Row 2 (A21-A40) [Poster Location Map]

Abstract

       Over 500,000 athletes participate in intercollegiate sports annually in the United States.  Participation in sports has many benefits for college student-athletes, but student-athletes experience struggles with well-being and mental health. College student-athletes also self-report underutilization of mental health services, and they report numerous barriers to engaging in help-seeking practices. As such, it is important to recommend and provide effective interventions and programs to address mental health concerns and well-being in our college student-athlete population.

       An important first step in providing intervention recommendations is understanding the current state of the field in this area. The primary aim of the present study was to systematically review the current literature on evidenced-based interventions to support college student-athlete mental health and well-being. Research studies from the past ten years were retrieved from seven electronic databases (Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Cochrane, Education Source, ERIC, and SportDiscus). From 1,107 studies originally identified, twenty-one met criteria for inclusion in the study. A range of areas were covered by the included interventions such as mindfulness, mental health literacy and stigma, knowledge of health behaviors, and body ideals. The findings of this systematic review indicate that further studies are needed to expand the evidence-based research in this area. The findings also suggest that colleges and universities could benefit from using the existing evidence-based literature to implement interventions and to pilot research in this area. This would help student-athletes’ mental health and well-being as well as expand the field.

Keywords

college student-athlete, mental health and well-being , evidence-based practice , interventions , prevention

Research Area

Psychology and Behavioral Sciences

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