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. 2022 Mar 1;32(2):95-102.
doi: 10.1097/JSM.0000000000000971.

Beneath the Surface: Mental Health and Harassment and Abuse of Athletes Participating in the FINA (Aquatics) World Championships, 2019

Margo Mountjoy  1   2   3 , Astrid Junge  4   5 , Christer Magnusson  2 , Farhad Moradi Shahpar  2 , Edgar Ivan Ortiz Lizcano  2   6 , Josip Varvodic  2 , Xinzhai Wang  2 , Mohamed Yahia Cherif  2 , Lee Hill  1 , Jim Miller  2   7   8
Affiliations

Beneath the Surface: Mental Health and Harassment and Abuse of Athletes Participating in the FINA (Aquatics) World Championships, 2019

Margo Mountjoy et al. Clin J Sport Med. .

Abstract

Objective: To assess the mental health and experience of sport-related harassment and abuse of elite aquatic athletes and to analyze it in relation to gender and discipline.

Design: Cross-sectional study using an anonymous survey.

Setting: The FINA World Championships 2019.

Participants: Registered athletes in the disciplines of swimming, diving, high diving, water polo, artistic swimming, and open water swimming.

Interventions: Athletes completed an online or paper-based questionnaire.

Main outcome measures: The main outcome measures included screening for depression (10-item version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale revised), eating disorders (Brief Eating Disorders in Athletes Questionnaire), the subjective need for psychotherapeutic support, and the experience of sport-related harassment and/or abuse.

Results: A quarter (24.6%) of the 377 responding athletes were classified as depressed and 2.5% as having an eating disorder. More than 40% of the athletes stated that they wanted or needed psychotherapeutic support. Fifty-one athletes (14.9%) had experienced harassment/abuse in sport themselves, and 31 (9%) had witnessed it in another athlete. The experiences of harassment and abuse ranged from unwanted comments about body or appearance (40.2%) to rewards in sport for sexual favors (2.5%) and rape (0.3%). Athletes who had experienced harassment/abuse in sport themselves had higher average scores for depression and eating disorders, and more of them felt they needed psychotherapeutic support. Up to a third would not talk or report to anybody if they saw or experienced harassment/abuse, and less than 20% would talk to an official for help.

Conclusion: Targeted initiatives are required to address mental health issues and harassment and abuse in sport in the FINA aquatic disciplines.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

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