Qualitative study shows sports-based youth development staff enhance youth mental health in marginalized communities, indicating strong social support.
Traditional treatment models are insufficient to meet youth mental health needs, particularly in marginalized communities. A public health approach that includes mental health promotion can broaden impact. Sports-Based Youth Development (SBYD) programs leverage sport to teach life skills and promote positive youth development (PYD) in socially vulnerable communities. More rigorous research is needed to understand how SBYD staff support youth within specific socio-ecological contexts to promote PYD. This qualitative study examined how SBYD staff supported predominantly Black/Latine youth in low child opportunity neighborhoods. Direct service staff (N = 7) participated in semi-structured interviews. Thematic analyses yielded three themes: Staff provided support that was (1) holistic (e.g., emotional, instrumental, and informational support), (2) contextually-responsive (e.g., informed by similar lived experiences, collaborated across settings), and 3) flexible. Findings illustrate that SBYD staff are integral to the social safety net and can play a critical role in strengthening mental health for vulnerable youth.
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Tran et al. (2025) studied this question.
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