ArticleFrontiers in psychology2020
Help-Seeking for Mental Health Issues in Professional Rugby League Players.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sustainable Career Transitions and Mental Health Support in Elite Sport: A Systematic Review of Evidence and Practices.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Multidimensional profiling of rugby league players: A systematic scoping review and expert Delphi consensus.PloS one · 2025Article
- The 5Rs of Rugby: A qualitative evaluation of the development, delivery, and experience of a mental health literacy and social norms intervention with elite rugby union players in Ireland.PLOS mental health · 2025Article
- Perceived barriers and influencing factors of psychological help-seeking amongst Chinese nurses exposed to COVID-19.Journal of research in nursing : JRN · 2024Article
- Mental health help-seeking preferences and behaviour in elite male rugby players.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2023Article
- How Social Support Impact Teachers' Mental Health Literacy: A Chain Mediation Model.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Association of mental health help-seeking with mental health-related knowledge and stigma in Japan Rugby Top League players.PloS one · 2021Article
- From Whence Cometh My Help? Psychological Distress and Help-Seeking in the Evangelical Christian Church.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDespite the prevalence and negative consequences of mental health issues among elite athletes, studies suggest many do not seek professional help. Understanding barriers and facilitators to help-seeking is imperative to reduce the burden of mental health symptoms and disorders.
aimsThis study aimed to elucidate factors associated with actual help-seeking behavior in professional rugby football league (RFL) players in England and one club in France.
designA mixed-methods cross-sectional online survey design was used, and completed by 167 professional RFL players.
methodsThe survey consisted of measures of mental health, perceived psychological stress, athletic identity, knowledge of player welfare, and actual help-seeking. Additionally, one open-ended question allowed free-text comments about barriers to help-seeking.
resultsThose who had sought help reported significantly higher psychological stress compared to those who had not sought help. Help-seeking was associated with better mental health literacy and higher perceived psychological stress in a multivariate analysis. The qualitative analysis revealed a number of perceived barriers to help-seeking, of which lower mental health literacy and stigma were the most prominent.
conclusionIn one of the first studies to examine actual help-seeking behavior, professional rugby players who had sought help for mental health and personal issues were characterized by having greater mental health literacy and experiencing greater psychological stress. Players also identified feelings of embarrassment, pride, fear and shame act as barriers to seeking help for mental health issues. These results suggest focusing on increasing mental health literacy and reducing stigma may increase help-seeking behavior for mental health symptoms.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.