A stakeholders perspective on the 'kickstart to recovery' football programme in a community mental health service

Abstract

Introduction: One in four Irish people will experience mental health difficulties. Those with mental illness often don t receive best practice physical healthcare due to the division between service areas in Ireland and are excluded from socially meaningful roles and activities. Sports engagement is associated with reduced social isolation, improved confidence and autonomy. Football is a sport valued in Irish society and that addresses these areas. Kickstart2Recovery is a six to eight week intervention run by occupational therapists and FAI coaches to combat social inclusion and support recovery for service users. The overall research aim was to explore the opinions of community-based footballers and facilitators as to whether recovery through playing football is possible. Methodology: A qualitative design through a social constructivist worldview using descriptive phenomenological methods was employed. The Canadian Model of Occupational Performance and Engagement (CMOP-E) married these research approaches and was the overriding theory implemented. Once off semi-structured interviews were completed and transcripts analysed using thematic analysis. Results: A sample of three footballers, six coaches, five occupational therapist facilitators and six healthcare professionals made up results. Four latent themes were created: (1) Participation over performance, (2) Need for pathways and opportunities, (3) Learning through participation in football, (4) Social inclusion, connection and flexibility. Theme (1) found the abilities of footballers were accommodated to maximise performance but concerns were present as to what severity of difficulties could be supported. Theme (2) found football sessions need to be run on a continuous basis with additional pathways to better meet outcomes. Theme (3) described the transferable skills learned through football and best methods to support transferable learning. Theme (4) illustrated the presence of social connection and flexibility in Kickstart2Recovery and challenges in community environments. Conclusion: The Kickstart2Recovery programme has the scope to address recovery issues of physical health and social inclusion if incorporated into wider programmes, supported by local sports partnerships and followed up by community exit pathways. There is scope for football interventions to combat disempowerment by including service users in programme design. Facilitators want to support the recovery of footballers but are concerned about barriers to engagement and tended to perceive community-based activity and social inclusion to be the same. Facilitators need funding and staff support to continue to provide Kickstart2Recovery . This study didn t explore the accessibility of Kickstart2Recovery for female players and reasons these players disengage. Further research is required to explore this. Kickstart2Recovery should be re-evaluated when the recommendations outlined in this thesis are carried out to assess influence on outcomes.