Reaching Young People in Urban and Rural Communities with Mental Health and Wellbeing Support Within a Youth Sports Development Program: Integrating In-Person and Remote Modes of Service Delivery

Embedding mental health and wellbeing programs within youth sports development programs can help provide more young people with mental health support. However, delivering such programs in multiple locations across metropolitan, regional, and rural areas requires novel solutions to overcome geographic and logistical barriers. We examined the delivery of an integrated system delivered within an Australian junior rugby league program. The program included online assessment and feedback about youth mental health, as well as connection with evidence-informed resources and referral sources via parent telephone and email support. There were four methods of delivering player workshops during training sessions: (a) In-person Delivery Only, (b) In-person + Remote Real-time (video-conferenced), (c) In-person + Remote Prerecorded (video-recorded), and (d) Remote Delivery Only (video-conferenced and/or video-recorded). In-person delivered player workshops were facilitated by local rugby league personnel. Remote delivered workshops were facilitated by psychologists from the mental health research team. Participants were 671 boys (12–15 years; M age = 13.35; SD = 0.35) in 21 metropolitan, regional and rural locations. Regardless of delivery condition, players with elevated anxiety, depression and behavioural problems reported significant declines in symptoms from pre- to post-program, and those within healthy ranges did not change from pre- to post-program. Player workshop enjoyment ratings were higher in the In-person + Remote Real-time condition and the Remote Delivery Only condition than the In-person Delivery Only condition. However, non-completion of the post-program assessment across all conditions was higher than in prior studies and a comparison group of players who did not complete the program was not included. Mental health benefits may be observed across in-person and remote modes of delivering mental health workshops within youth sports programs. However, the involvement of mental health personnel, whether in-person or remotely, and mixed delivery modes, may be important for young people’s retention and satisfaction.