An Online Intervention to Support Student-Athlete Mental Health: Implementation, Evaluation, and Critical Reflection

Abstract

This study examined the influence of two interventions (therapeutic letter to self; values targeting) on student-athletes’ mental health using two variants of a single-subject design: a multiple-baseline single-subject design and a probe design. Four high-ability student-athletes (two males and two females) who competed in various sports (e.g., soccer and cycling) completed two preintervention measures (Mental Health Continuum Short Form; Clinical Outcomes Routine Evaluation 10) at baseline. These measures were then readministered after Intervention 1, Intervention 2, and at a 2-week follow-up using a probe design. Mental well-being (Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale) was assessed every 2 days from start to finish using a multiple-baseline across-participants design. Data were analyzed via visual inspection methods, specifically, immediacy of effect, mean change, effect sizes, and percentage of overlapping data. Results indicated that two participants who completed the study (Nina and Tim) showed an increase in total mental health and a decrease in psychological distress from baseline to follow-up. Findings are discussed with respect to prior research and study limitations.