Explore our ongoing research undertakings within our mental health and wellbeing in community and elite sport project.
Our projects are grouped by five key themes. Explore these below.
Engaging New Dads: First 1001 Critical Days
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Project partners: This research has been designed with input from key stakeholders working in this area.
The importance of optimal parental mental health for optimal infant mental health through secure attachment is widely known. Despite this the help-seeking behaviours of, and support services for, fathers vary compared to the experiences of mothers. One of the key recommendations of the Rare Jewels Report was for governments to ‘incentivise local partners across health, children’s services and the voluntary and community sector to work together to develop and deliver local strategies to give all babies in their area the best start in life and to deliver local goals’ (Parent Infant Partnership UK, 2019: 48). The purpose of this research is to investigate the place of sport, physical activity and leisure in engaging new fathers and the processes and mechanisms of support and referral pathways and partnership working to support fathers of babies and young children.
Parents, Families, Physical Activity and Mental Health
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Project partners: Various national and local charities working with parents through parent education, peer support and perinatal mental health services contributed to the design of our survey research and have worked with us in our knowledge exchange processes. Our research about engaging new fathers in support has been designed with input from key stakeholders working in this area.
The importance of optimal parental mental health for optimal infant mental health through secure attachment is widely known. There is increasing evidence of the benefits of physical activity for mental health and the risk that life transitions pose to both physical activity participation and mental health. Developing research in this area is helping us to understand the use of physical activity for the treatment and prevention of mental ill-health and the maintenance of mental health in the perinatal period and beyond. We can also better understand how physical activity is negotiated in the context of changing family lives and how this can be supported. The help-seeking behaviours of, and support services for, fathers vary compared to the experiences of mothers. We are also investigating the place of sport, physical activity and leisure in engaging new fathers and the processes and mechanisms of support, referral pathways and partnership working to support fathers of babies and young children.
Transitions Into and Through Parenthood, Physical Activity and Mental Health
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Project partners: Various national and local charities working with parents through parent education, peer support and perinatal mental health services contributed to the design of this survey research and have worked with us in our knowledge exchange processes.
There is increasing evidence of the benefits of physical activity for mental health and the risk that life transitions pose to both physical activity participation and mental health. Developing research in this area will help us to understand the use of physical activity for the treatment and prevention of mental ill-health and the maintenance of mental health in the perinatal period and beyond. We can also begin to better understand how physical activity for self-care and leisure-time physical activity is negotiated in the context of changing family lives and, importantly, how this can be supported. More adequate understanding of the experiences of parents through transitions into parenthood and when caring for babies or young children is vital. Optimal parental mental health supports optimal infant mental health.
Churchill Fellowship – School-based Suicide Prevention Strategies
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This research focuses on how, and if, schools can be effectively used to implement suicide-prevention policy as outlined in the Suicide Prevention Strategy 2023 -2028 and the 2017 green paper ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health’. By exploring how under-funded schools and over-stretched teachers are left to unravel ambiguous policy and construct it into practice, at both a universal level for all pupils and targeted at those considered ‘at-risk’, the unintended consequences can be uncovered. The research for the fellowship explores school-based programmes, in Australia and the USA, that have been scientifically proven to improve pupil mental health and reduce suicide attempts. It is hoped the insights, gained from travelling to observe these programmes first-hand, could inform the development of a school-based suicide prevention and mental health promotion programme for a UK context.
Project partners: The Churchill Fellowship
The Churchill Fellowship – Nina SmithEducate Magazine – Nina SmithDeveloping children and young people’s mental health literacy: A study of Ahead of the Game across England and Scotland
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Ellie’s PhD is a study of Movember’s Ahead of the Game programme across England and Scotland. Ahead of the game is a community sport-based programme that uses sport to teach young people, parents, and coaches how to talk about mental health, delivered in schools and community settings. Movember have recently partnered with Rugby League Cares and The Scottish Association for Mental Health as their implementation partner, and Everton in the Community, Leeds Rhinos Foundation and Fulham FC Foundation to carry out the delivery of AotG. The aims of the proposed programme of research are to progress an evidence-based understanding and offer insights into how Movember’s approach is expressed through their new delivery partners, and report the available evidence concerning their reach, effectiveness, and impact. By doing so, the thesis will generate new empirical data, which sheds light on some key aspects of the realities of community sport policy and practice.
Project partners: Movember, Rugby League Cares
Exploring children and young people’s perspectives through creative methods: How can place-based provision promote mental health and wellbeing
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The PhD project explores place-based community provision through the perspectives of children and young people. Using creative methods, the study examines community programmes, education, leisure and social relationships in connection to children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing.
Project partners: Everton in the Community
Tackling the Blues
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Tackling the Blues is an award winning sport, art and education-based programme delivered in partnership by Edge Hill University, Everton in the Community and Tate Liverpool that helps children and young people to better understand mental health and develop positive wellbeing strategies. TtB contributes to improved mental health literacy and educational performance among children and young people. It seeks to address the complex social determinants and inequalities associated with mental health and illness.
Tackling the BluesProject partners: Everton in the Community and Tate Liverpool
Informing national policy priorities for mental health: the role of physical activity, sport and sport for development
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This project built upon the publication of an externally funded government policy brief, Moving for Mental Health, led by Professor Andy Smith with colleagues at Loughborough University, on behalf of the Sport for Development Coalition and Mind (the national mental health charity). Through this project, four workshops and symposia were attended by over 40 different partner organisations and policy-makers across the North of England to identify areas of mutual interest, share evidence from previous Edge Hill research, and inform policy decisions on mental health, physical activity, sport, and sport for development. Headline findings are shaping the broader work of the centre around collaboration; workforce development; using and developing the evidence-base for moving for mental health; and monitoring, evaluation and learning.
Read the full report (Sport for Development Coalition)Project partners: Movember, Rugby League Cares, Everton in the Community, The National Academy for Social Prescribing
Move Well, Feel Good (MWFG)
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Move Well, Feel Good (MWFG) is a co-created school-based physical activity intervention using development of motor competence as a mechanism for promoting positive mental health. The study objectives were to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of MWFG and to describe changes in child-level mental health and motor competence outcomes.
Project partners: The Waterloo Foundation (funder), West Lancashire Sport Partnership and local primary schools (delivery partners)
Exploring the impact of Rugby League Cares’ community mental health programmes
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This research will examine the organisational theory of Rugby League Cares (RLCares) within its community-based sport and health programmes and how this shapes the impact of an agreed sample of those programmes in generating sporting and broader social and public health outcomes. Programmes in generating sporting and broader social and public health outcomes. Rugby league clubs operate within the heart of local communities with statistically higher-than-average levels of social deprivation, mental illness, and poor well-being. RLCares has many interwoven aspects that are dependent on others within the figuration that enable and constrain the actions of those responsible for programme delivery and outcomes (Casey, Payne and Eime, 2011). As part of a realist evaluation methodology (Pawson, 2003, 2016; Westhorp, 2018), a longitudinal, mixed- methods approach will be used to undertake a diverse and in-depth analysis of programme contexts, mechanisms, and outcomes and how these relate to RLCares’ wider organisational theory. More specifically, this study seeks to understand ‘What works, for whom, in what circumstances and why?’. The research will also provide valuable practical insights for RLCares staff, stakeholders, and funders to strengthen the impact of their community programmes and generate learning which can be used by other organisations across the sport and public health sectors wishing to increase the effectiveness of their practice and benefit public health and wellbeing.
Project partners: Rugby League Cares
Sport, Work and Mental Health A Study of Coaches in the Gaelic Athletics Association (GAA)
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This project explores the mental health and work experiences of 34 dual-career coaches in Northern Ireland. It examines coaches’ mental health experiences, and those of individuals in their interdependent networks, to better understand how they each manage and support their mental health within their personal lives, coaching work, and non-coaching work. The analysis from semi-structured interviews reveals that coaches share various lived experiences of chronic and episodic mental illness, including depression and anxiety, as well as attempted suicide and suicidal ideation. These findings reveal the significance of work as a social determinant of coach mental health. Coaches are subject to shame, stigma, and stress in their non-coaching and coaching-oriented work. By eschewing a reductionist perspective of mental health in sport that typically informs existing research this research demonstrates that their interdependent networks and social relationships, inside and away from coaching and non-coaching work, have a significant impact on mental health.
Project partners: Gaelic Athletics Association (GAA)
Exploring the impact of the player mental fitness workshops delivered as part of the Rugby League World Cup 2021
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The project is being led by researchers at Edge Hill University in the Department of Sport and Physical Activity, colleagues at the University of Wollongong (Dr Stewart Vella) and is being conducted as part of the longstanding partnership between the University and Movember. The research will explore the impact of the Player Mental Fitness Workshops delivered as part of the Rugby League Cup 2021 among a sample of participants, workshop facilitators/delivery staff, and staff from Rugby League Cares and Rugby League World Cup 2021. The programme, which was first developed based on knowledge gained from the community sport and mental health programmes Offload and Ahead of the Game (evaluated previously by Edge Hill University). Until now, the workshops have not previously been delivered as part of a Mental Fitness Charter associated with a Rugby League World Cup, so this study will be exploratory. The findings of this project are intended to be reported to Movember and wider audiences, including Rugby League Cares and other relevant organisations, to contribute to their agenda of improving mental health and wellbeing.
Project partners: University of Wollongong, Movember
Exploring the mental health and wellbeing of youth academy rugby league players
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The project is part of the PhD in the Department of Sport and Physical Activity and is being conducted in the partnership between the university and Rugby League Cares. The research will explore the impact of mental health and wellbeing on youth academy players. Rugby League Cares has a focus in the promotion of mental health in rugby players and this project also aims to understand the beliefs and thoughts of the individuals (for example, Heads of Youth and Welfare Officers) working to promote mental health and wellbeing. The findings of this project are intended to be reported to Rugby League Cares and wider audiences and other relevant organisations to contribute to their agenda of improving mental health and wellbeing.
Exploring the Mental Health of Athletes and their Families
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This programme of work explores the mental health of athletes and their families, with a particular focus on athletes’ partners. This is an area which has been rarely studied in the sociology of sports work and explores the significance of the blurring between athletes’ working and personal lives for their mental health, and that of their families. It sheds light on the unmet support mental health support needs of athletes and their families, and reflects upon the duty of care responsibilities sporting organisations have for their employees.
Mental Health, Coaching and Workforce Development
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This programme of work explores the mental health of sports workers across all levels of the sport, physical activity and movement ecosystems. It includes an emphasis on the mental health literacy of workers, their lived experiences of mental health and mental illness, and the mental health support provided by employers. The workforce development needs, and opportunities for professional development to promote mental health, are also examined for various groups. These include sports coaches, athletes, support staff, administrators, volunteers, and senior managers.
Active Blues
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Active Blues (AB), a community-based programme that would support inactive men aged 35-50-years-old to become physically active at least once per week through participation in sport. Delivered by Everton in the Community (EitC) (the official charity of Everton Football Club), AB was based in four electoral wards throughout North Liverpool, which were among the most deprived in England, and enable these types of men to adopt healthier lifestyles and reduce health inequalities that lead to type 2 diabetes, musculoskeletal conditions, obesity, isolation and loneliness, poor mental health and cardiovascular disease (EitC, 2018). The focus of this project is specifically on what can be learned about the increasing alignment of the sport and health policy sectors, how this impacts upon the ability of government to achieve its sport and related public health policy goals, and how this shapes people’s experiences of the AB community-based sport and health programme.
Project partners: Everton in the Community, Sport England, Liverpool City Council
Evaluating British Cycling’s Places to Ride Programme
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This PhD research project is titled Evaluating British Cycling’s Places to Ride Programme. The evaluation will provide the first in-depth longitudinal study of the impact that a place-based capital investment with British Cycling, in partnership with Sport England and DCMS, can have on tackling inequalities in cycling participation across a diverse range of localities and population groups. It is intended to generate new insights on how different types of traffic-free cycling facilities can engage new audiences in cycling, and the wider health and social outcomes of doing so. The evaluation explores the programme theories within and across individual projects to develop new knowledge about the programme mechanisms, contexts and outcomes that can then be used to inform the design, development, and implementation of future place-based investment processes. The evaluation is also intended to inform future policy and commissioning decisions regarding the potential of events to increase future participation.
Project partners: British Cycling, Sport England and DCMS
Mental Health, Coaching and Workforce Development
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This programme of work explores the mental health of sports workers across all levels of the sport, physical activity and movement ecosystems. It includes an emphasis on the mental health literacy of workers, their lived experiences of mental health and mental illness, and the mental health support provided by employers. The workforce development needs, and opportunities for professional development to promote mental health, are also examined for various groups. These include sports coaches, athletes, support staff, administrators, volunteers, and senior managers.
Place-Based Community Mental Health
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The research project will analyse place-based approaches to mental health and wellbeing through Everton in the Community’s PP from conception to delivery. The research will consist of two phases, firstly engaging EitC staff, stakeholders, and existing and potential participants to uncover the needs of the community. Secondly, the research will evaluate the success of the PP in achieving the formal aims and objectives informed by the initial phase. This project is designed in response to calls for increased civic engagement in community mental health and wellbeing settings and aims to generate greater understanding about what is needed for place-based approaches to succeed in areas of high socio-economic deprivation. It will also develop new knowledge about the mechanisms and processes involved in the design of purpose-built community wellbeing hubs.
Project partners: Everton in the Community
Sugar Free Toffees (SFT)
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Sugar Free Toffees (SFT) was a community sport-based health project design to help prevent and manage type 2 diabetes (T2D) among individuals identified as pre-diabetic or diabetic. With funding from NHS North West Coast Clinical Network from July 2021 to April 2022, the project was delivered by Everton in the Community (EitC) via a dedicated programme coordinator with support from a General Practice (GP) Team and allied EitC staff.
The project included screening events and a lifestyle programme which comprised of weekly education and physical activity sessions focused on preventing and managing T2D. SFT was provided as an alternative to patients who had not engaged with the National Diabetes Prevention Programme ‘Healthier You’, and so adopted a hybrid model of delivery which involved six weeks of small group sessions and a further six weeks of individual telephone appointments. The programme adopted a holistic approach to supporting patients’ management of their blood sugar levels through different aspects of the programme specifically designed to address patients physical (for example, walks, chair-based exercise etc.), social (for example, group sessions informed by patients’ lived experiences) and mental health (for example, education sessions focused on sleep hygiene, stress and mental health literacy). This design and delivery of the programme, alongside the impact and insight that could be gained from researching SFT, was the focus of the research conducted with the programme staff and participants.
