Mental Health and Varsity Student-Athletes in Canada
Is there a Role for Sport Social Work?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33043/xzy6tcsd64eKeywords:
varsity student-athlete (VSA), Canada, support services, mental healthAbstract
The profession of social work is an underutilized profession for increasing mental health and well-being across Canadian post-secondary campuses. This research focuses on better understanding the experience of a subset of university students, namely those identified as ‘varsity student-athletes’ (VSAs). The framework for this pilot study is grounded in sport social work, an emerging area of social work practice in Canada. A mixed-methods survey design was employed, gathering both qualitative and quantitative data to explore the experiences of a subset of VSAs attending an affiliated liberal arts university college in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The survey focused on participants’ experiences of seeking and accessing support services and solicited their input on unmet needs to inform the development of a Student-Athlete Support Network (SASN). The authors of this research contend that although only a small sample of VSAs participated in this study, the findings suggest that there is significant potential to support this population through a sport social work approach. The development of an SASN, grounded in the principles and values of sport social work, could result in the development of a programming that moves beyond a traditional performance-focused model to one that supports the athlete as a whole person.
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