Coaches’ as Gatekeepers: An Exploration of the mental health literacy of Black male youth football coaches
Open Access
- Author:
- Peets, Jerrica
- Graduate Program:
- Recreation, Park and Tourism Management
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- July 06, 2020
- Committee Members:
- Andrew Justin Mowen, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Andrew Justin Mowen, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Jen Putnam Agans, Committee Member
Nicole Sheree Webster, Committee Member
Patreese Donette Ingram, Outside Member
Peter Newman, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- mental health literacy
Black Men
African American Men
Coaches
Sport - Abstract:
- To optimize the health of Black men, this study explored effective strategies to improve the mental health literacy (MHL) of Black coaches. It assessed knowledge gaps in MHL for Black men by exploring the mental health perceptions and experiences of Black male football coaches and proposing modifications to a current MHL scale. Utilizing a fixed mixed-methods approach, the researcher assessed Black male coaches’ conceptualization and understanding of mental health as well as their MHL scores using O’Connor and Casey (2015) mental health literacy scale (MHLS). Seventeen semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted in addition to an online survey with approximately 100 participants. Two focus groups were also conducted to evaluate the cultural relevance of the MHLS. Several themes emerged from the interviews. Themes included: socio-cultural factors influence on mental health, perceptions of mental health from the Black community, and mental health’s place in sport. Coaches reported how they arrived at their mental health understanding and how that influenced their everyday lives and their coaching role. Focus group participants reflected on the language and format of the MHLS and suggested changes to survey item response categories and overall instrument length. Online survey results found moderate mental health literacy levels for Black youth football coaches with no statistical difference in score by socio-cultural factors. In conclusion, most participants felt that mental health was overlooked in their community and there needed to be more knowledge garnered in the form of mental health training to help them understand their mental health, the mental health of their athletes, and the mental health of their athletes’ parents. It was clear there was conceptual confusion between mental illness and mental health that influenced mental health literacy of participants.