Mental Health Communication Sources in Collegiate Athletics
Faculty Mentor
Christine Anzur
Mentor Home Department
Communication Studies and Storytelling
Short Abstract
In recent years, researchers and advocates have shed light on the importance of mental health care and research. The exploration of mental health has shown that levels of stigma and mental health literacy (MHL) are key indicators of mental health outcomes. Furthermore, collegiate student-athletes often face unique stressors during their time earning a degree. Current literature indicates that promoting mental health care, through increasing mental health literacy and decreasing stigma is very beneficial in the collegiate-athletics environment. This undergraduate thesis aims to explore the potential impacts of communication source on student-athletes’ mental health stigma and MHL. The undergraduate researcher designed an experiment to explore the potential impacts of differing mental health communication sources. After receiving IRB certification, the undergraduate researcher recruited current collegiate athletes to participate in an online survey. Participants first completed a pre-test and then received mental health advice from short excerpt. The advice provided MHL information and potential mental health resources; the excerpt highlighted that either the coach or expert was the communication source. The participants then completed post-test measures. The current study is in its final stages of data collection and analysis. The undergraduate researcher will use the SPSS Software to detect any potential group differences, as well any correlations between the variables of self-stigma, perceived stigmatization, mental health literacy, and likelihood of seeking help. The research team expects to find significant correlations between these variables. However, it is unclear whether there will be any significant differences between communication sources.
Category
Social Sciences
Start Date
5-4-2024 9:10 AM
End Date
5-4-2024 10:10 AM
Location
D.P. Culp Center Room 210
Mental Health Communication Sources in Collegiate Athletics
D.P. Culp Center Room 210
In recent years, researchers and advocates have shed light on the importance of mental health care and research. The exploration of mental health has shown that levels of stigma and mental health literacy (MHL) are key indicators of mental health outcomes. Furthermore, collegiate student-athletes often face unique stressors during their time earning a degree. Current literature indicates that promoting mental health care, through increasing mental health literacy and decreasing stigma is very beneficial in the collegiate-athletics environment. This undergraduate thesis aims to explore the potential impacts of communication source on student-athletes’ mental health stigma and MHL. The undergraduate researcher designed an experiment to explore the potential impacts of differing mental health communication sources. After receiving IRB certification, the undergraduate researcher recruited current collegiate athletes to participate in an online survey. Participants first completed a pre-test and then received mental health advice from short excerpt. The advice provided MHL information and potential mental health resources; the excerpt highlighted that either the coach or expert was the communication source. The participants then completed post-test measures. The current study is in its final stages of data collection and analysis. The undergraduate researcher will use the SPSS Software to detect any potential group differences, as well any correlations between the variables of self-stigma, perceived stigmatization, mental health literacy, and likelihood of seeking help. The research team expects to find significant correlations between these variables. However, it is unclear whether there will be any significant differences between communication sources.