Applying Positive Psychology Principles to Soccer Interventions for People with Mental Health Difficulties

Exercise interventions for people with mental health difficulties are very diverse, but include many that are aligned with the tenets of Positive Psychology as they focus on physical and mental well-being, social connectedness and community ties. While physical health is often a key objective, the importance of these interventions extends to psychological and social health. Physical exercise interventions have proven to be effective for participants with anxiety schizophrenia and for the improvement of general mood.

Soccer as a team sport is a particularly apt form of group-based exercise as it fosters social inclusion and communication skills potentially also across cultural and socio-economic barriers. And it seems to hold a particular potential for increasing psychosocial health with a broad appeal to males in cultures that highly valorize this sport at least.

In this study, the authors discussed how some exercise interventions such as those using soccer were potentially well-aligned with concepts from Positive Psychology such as Seligman’s five elements (PERMA) that determine “Eudaimonia” (a good life): Positive emotions (P), Engagement and Flow (E), Positive Relationships (R), Meaning (M), and Accomplishment (A). Between 2012-2017, 329 people (309 male, 97%) participated in the Coping Through Football intervention. The average age of the participants at the start date was 30.6 years old (SD = 10.08). The perceived life improvements reported by participants of a London-based soccer intervention “Coping Through Football” (CTF) were analyzed for content using these five elements.

The results indicated that all but Meaning (M) could be identified clearly; Positive Relationship (R) and Accomplishment (A) were the most commonly reported components. The PERMA model offers a potentially highly relevant framework to measure changes in well-being in participants of adjunct physical exercise treatments in mental health. Further quantitative and qualitative evaluation using the PERMA categories has the clear potential to inform policy and funding decisions in the growing area of psychosocial interventions in public mental health. In addition, the present study suggests that there is a great potential in using Positive Psychology as a framework for understanding mechanisms and effectiveness of soccer interventions, and possible of sports interventions in general.

Article by Bettina Friedrich and Oliver J. Mason, from UK.

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