Clinical trial NCT04850872: PLAYwithHEART: PLAY With Happiness, Engagement, Acceptance, and Respect With Your Team
Official title: PLAYwithHEART: Development and Feasibility Study of a Program for the Promotion of Acceptance and Cooperation Skills for Adolescent Athletes
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Adolescents
Athletes
Lead sponsor: University of Coimbra
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2021-04-20
Enrollment: 50
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 12
Maximum age (years): 18
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Brief summary: This investigation aims to apply and test the feasibility of a structured Program for young athletes. PLAYwithHEART is a program for promoting acceptance and cooperation skills in adolescent athletes. This group application program comprises eight weekly sessions and aims to decrease levels of sport anxiety, and increase the psychological quality of life of young athletes, by promoting skills inherent to an affiliation mentality (mindfulness, acceptance, and compassion), as an alternative to a social ranking mentality (based on maladaptive processes, such as shame and self-criticism), to deal with the challenges and demands of the sport context.

Detailed description: The sample will include young athletes of different sports with ages ranged 12 to 18 years old. The principal investigator will recruit participants through contact with different sports clubs in Portugal. Athletes who demonstrate interest will go through a Screening interview (previously authorized by your legal guardian) by a licensed psychologist that aims explain the structure and arms of the investigation, to collect demographic data, and whether the athlete meets the inclusion criteria for the study. Athletes who meet the inclusion criteria and demonstrate interest in participating in the study, will sign an informed consent.

All ethical requirements for research with humans are guaranteed. Afterwards, participants will be allocated in two groups (experimental and control group). Additionally, the experimental group will enroll in the PLAYwithHEART programme, also provided by a licensed psychologist and a co-therapist.

Both groups will concurrently complete a protocol of self-report measures (to measure: a) psychological processes; b) quality of life and sports anxiety. These assessments will occur in three different times: before the start of the PLAYwithHEART programme (M0), after the final session of the programme (M1), and 6 months after that (M2).

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* adolescent competitive athletes
* presentation of the informed consent signed by the participant and respetive legal guardian
* availability to participate in the 8 sessions of the PLAYwithHEART Programme
* inexistence of cognitive difficulties that interfere in completing self-response measures
* not being under psychological / psychiatric appointments

Exclusion Criteria:

* no presentation of the informed consent signed by the participant and respetive legal guardian
* unavailability to participate in the 8 sessions of the PLAYwithHEART Programme
* existence of cognitive difficulties that interfere in completing self-response measures
* being under psychological / psychiatric appointments

Primary outcomes:
measure: Changes in Quality of Life
timeFrame: From baseline to 6-months follow-up
measure: Changes in competitive anxiety
timeFrame: From baseline to 6-months follow-up
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Changes in Mindfulness
timeFrame: From baseline to 6-months follow-up
measure: Changes in Psychological Inflexibility
timeFrame: From baseline to 6-months follow-up
measure: Changes in Self-compassion
timeFrame: From baseline to 6-months follow-up
measure: Changes in shame
timeFrame: From baseline to 6-months follow-up
measure: Changes in self-criticism
timeFrame: From baseline to 6-months follow-up
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Coimbra
country: Portugal
facility: Different sports clubs in Portugal
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Coimbra
name: Sara Oliveira, MS
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: