Unmasking mental health symptoms in female professional football players : a 12-month follow-up study

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To calculate the prevalence rates of mental health symptoms among female professional football players over a 12-month period and to explore the associations of severe injury and related surgery with mental health symptoms among female professional footballers. METHODS: An observational prospective cohort study was conducted over a 12-month follow-up period by distributing an electronic questionnaire three times. The questionnaire was based on validated screening tools for assessing mental health symptoms. RESULTS: A total of 74 female professional football players participated in this study. Mental health symptoms ranged from 1% for substance misuse to 65% for sport-psychological distress at baseline, from 6% for anxiety to 53% for sport-psychological distress 6 months postbaseline and from 3% for substance misuse to 55% for sport-psychological distress 12 months postbaseline. The prevalence of disordered eating remained between 15% and 20% over the 12-month period. Only one of the associations was statistically significant. Female professional football players were nearly twice as likely to report sport-related psychological distress following every surgery. CONCLUSIONS: The substantial prevalence of mental health symptoms among female professional football players emphasises the need for increased attention, awareness and interventions. Additionally, female professional football players are nearly twice as likely to report sport-related psychological distress after each surgery. Sports medicine physicians and mental health professionals working in female football should provide standard care, which involves identifying, monitoring and implementing tailored interventions for mental health symptoms.