Selected Aspects of Mental Health of Athletes

The study will assess the prevalence of mental health problems among different athletes. The study is based on the application of the battery of psychodiagnostic questionnaires, which were chosen aiming at investigating the prevalence of different symptoms related to problems in mental health or disorders.

This descriptive cross-sectional study will undertake sample with athletes categorized by the quality of their achievement.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Mental Health Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Diagnostic test: Psychodiagnostic

Detailed Description

In the field of sports, there is a lot of knowledge about sports injuries, nutrition and regeneration. Much less is known about mental health among athletes. The investigators often think that the incidence of mental problems is low among top athletes. As the main cause of this misconception, the authors attribute the idealization of sports and athletes. Both the professional and the lay public are often of the opinion that only mentally strong individuals can be successful, which of course means that there is no place in the highest level for individuals with mental problems and disorders.

The clinical study will be performed with 400-500 athletes of both genders aged 18 to 40, from Slovenia. The investigators will invite all athletes who have been categorized in the current year and classified into the membership category, i.e. national, international, world or Olympic class (there were 500 at the last categorization) and they compete in various sports disciplines. The study will be designed as a cross-sectional study. For the purpose of the research, the investigators will use a battery of psychodiagnostic questionnaires consisting of five parts: demographics and sport characteristic, depression symptomatic, anxiety symptomatic, eating problems, alcohol use and abuse and resilience characteristics of individual athlete.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 360

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Slovenia
  • Izola, Slovenia
    • University of Primorska, Faculty of health care

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 40 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Atletes at a competitive level, coming from different sports.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Included in competitive play
• Is a professional athlete or participates in organized professional sports activities

Exclusion Criteria:

• Present injuries
• Recreational athletes
• Any other significant diseases

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Intensity and frequency of specific symptoms	Intensity and frequency of specific symptoms could be the signs of problems in mental health	Baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Depressive symptomatology	The degree of depressive symptomatology (physical, affective, cognitive and behavioral symptoms) will be measured with The Depression Scale Center	Baseline
Pathological eating patterns	The degree of pathological eating patterns will be measured with Eating Attitude Test Questionnaire (EAT-26; Garner and Garfinkel, 1979) as high levels of preoccupation with diet, weight, and other pathological eating patterns.	Baseline
Level of risky alcohol consumption	Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT); World Health Organization 2001 The level of risky alcohol consumption will be assessed with a questionnaire (designed by the World Health Organization) that defines the type of consumption and the level of risk of drinking alcohol.	Baseline
Resilience	The degree of personality resilience to fight the stress will be measured with Resilience Scale II -DRS II; Sinclair, Celina & Oliver, 2003).	Baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Primorska

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 2, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 5, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): January 1, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 5, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 5, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): February 6, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 6, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 28, 2021
• Last Verified: September 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: UPrimorska

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: Group participant data will be available to other researchers.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No