The Elite Athlete Mental Health Strategy Trial (TEAMS)

June 24, 2015 updated by: Amelia Gulliver

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.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

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.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

59

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Australia
    • Australian Capital Territory
      • Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, 0200
        • The Centre for Mental Health Research, The Australian National University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Invited through sports organisation
  • Elite athlete
  • Able to read English

Exclusion Criteria:

  • None.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control
Experimental: Destigmatisation and Mental Health Literacy
Other: Destigmatisation and Mental Health Literacy
Written material delivered over 2 weeks via the Internet, including "mythbusters", debunking common myths around anxiety and depression, as well information about a range of celebrities who have identified themselves as having depression or anxiety. Also contains mental health literacy information.
Experimental: Help-seeking list
Other: Help-seeking list
List of sources for mental health help-seeking delivered over 2 weeks.
Experimental: Feedback
Other: Feedback
Written material delivered over 2 weeks via the Internet, including two short self-report measures (Goldberg Anxiety, Goldberg Depression), which will provide feedback to the participant about levels of depression and anxiety.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Help-seeking attitudes (Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help: Shortened Form, ATSPPH-SF)
Time Frame: Baseline, post, 3 month, and 6 month follow-up
Baseline, post, 3 month, and 6 month follow-up

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Help-seeking behaviour, and Help-seeking intentions (General Help-Seeking Questionnaire, GHSQ)
Time Frame: Baseline, post, 3 month, and 6 month follow-up
Baseline, post, 3 month, and 6 month follow-up

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Amelia Gulliver

Collaborators

Australian Institute of Sport

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Amelia Gulliver, BA, BAppPsych, BScPsych (Hons), The Centre for Mental Health Research, The Australian National University
  • Study Chair: Kathy Griffiths, BSc (Hons), PhD, The Centre for Mental Health Research, The Australian National University
  • Study Director: Helen Christensen, BA (Hons), MPsych, PhD, The Centre for Mental Health Research, The Australian National University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

November 1, 2009

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2011

Study Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2011

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 15, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 15, 2009

First Posted (Estimate)

July 16, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

June 26, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 24, 2015

Last Verified

June 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2009/373

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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