Nur 826 - Depression Among Current and Former Athletes

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The fourth article’s title is Mental and psychosocial health of current and former professional footballers. The purpose of the study is to determine the prevalence of mental health problems in former professional footballers. The assumption in the study was that professional footballers may have psychosocial difficulties and mental health complaints, both during and after their professional career. An observational study was conducted using the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology statement in order to guarantee the quality of reporting. The participants were current and former professional football players. The 12-item General Health Questionnaire was used to assess psychological conditions in the past 4 weeks. A total of 301 participants gave their informed consent and agreed to complete the questionnaire. It was found that in both former and current footballers, the highest prevalence was found for anxiety and depression (26% in current and 39% in former) (Gouttebarge, Frings-Dresen, Sluiter, 2015). The researched revealed some gap areas and weaknesses. The participants' selection was blinded to the researcher. As such, a non-response analysis was simply not possible. Individuals who did not want to participate. Furthermore, it was reported that individuals did not want to participate due to the length of the questionnaire (25 minutes to complete) and the controversial topic of the questionnaire (Gouttebarge, et. al, 2015). In terms of strengths, the collaboration between the national players unions as opposed to clubs because collaborations to clubs would have led to more players taking part in the study and, therefore, allow for more data to be collected.

The fifth article’s title is Influence of Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety on Injury Hazard among Collegiate American Football Players. The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of depression and anxiety symptoms among collegiate American football athletes. An open cohort of football players was followed for two years. These players were followed during the pre-season, in-season, and off-season. The players were followed from enrollment until either their very first injury or exit from the study such as player graduating or the study ending. There was a total of 330 participants. Players who were enrolled completed a self-administered baseline assessment. It was found that players who experienced depressive symptoms at baseline were significantly higher than players who did not experience depressive symptoms. This reveals that players who experience depression symptoms were more likely to injure themselves, which therefore increase their depressive symptoms even further (Jingzhen, Cheng, Zhang, Covassin, Heiden, Peek-Asa, 2014). The research study revealed several gap areas and weaknesses. The participation was completely voluntary which leaves the possibility that non-participation was associated with depression. The athletes were followed from enrollment until their very first injury or after graduating, therefore, a lot of things may change. Other variables such as stressful life events could affect symptoms of depression which were not measured in the study (Jingzhen, et. al 2014). Although participants were followed for two years, it can be a considered a strength because some researchers gathered extensive data.

The sixth article’s title is Predictors and Prevalence of Postconcussion Depressive Symptoms in Collegiate Athletes. The purpose of this study is to describe the prevalence of depressive symptoms in a collegiate athlete sample at baseline and post-concussion and comparing these levels of symptoms and change in symptoms with those of control group with no reported concussions. The design used was a case-control study. 84 participants were baseline tested when they arrived on campus. Additionally, the athletes were retested after being formally diagnosed with a concussion. All participants completed a Beck Depression Inventory-Fast Screen (BDI-FS) at both baseline and post-concussion. Furthermore, a control group of44 undergraduates who were involved in recreational, pick up sports, were tested at 2-time points. Depression symptoms were compared between baseline and post-concussion time points. Athletes reported having more depressive symptoms after a concussion than at baseline. The control group also experienced increased depressive symptoms at time 2 than at baseline (Vargas, Rabinowitz, Meyer, Arnett, 2015). The research study revealed a few gap areas and weaknesses. A more thorough interview-based measure would be ideal for this type of research. The reason being is that the research was primarily interested in depression symptoms rather than clinically diagnosed major depressive disorder. The use of BDI-SF is ideally used for diagnosing clinical depression (Vargas, et. al, 2015). Furthermore, this specific population may minimize their symptoms due to their desires to return to play in sports as soon as possible. In terms of strength, the use of control group ensures that researchers have control of variables.

The seventh title of the article is A Longitudinal Pilot Study of Depressive Symptoms in Concussed and Injured/Nonconcussed National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Student-Athletes. The purpose of this study is to longitudinally examine to which student-athletes demonstrated post injury depressive symptoms. These athletes completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CED-D) during their initial preseason team meeting. Data was collected over a 6-month period. At baseline, participants completed the CED-D to measure. Additionally, athletes who sustained concussion or injury completed the CED-D at 3 additional points; a week after injury, a month after injury, and 3 months after injury. The study found that concussed participants had the highest overall depressive symptoms at 1-week post injury and 1-month post injury. Both groups' score were elevated over baseline at 1-week post injury. Additionally, there seem to be no differences at any of the time points after injury between concussed and injured/non-concussed participants (Trevor, Weidauer, & Bryce, 2015). The research study revealed some gap areas and weaknesses. Seasonal stressors like an inability to compete in the postseason play versus regular-season play due to injury were not taken into consideration. The reason is because data was collected at different times during each team’s sports season. Furthermore, the baseline was only measured, which did not truly allow accurate tracking of changes in depressive symptoms between non-injured and injured participants over time. The strength of the research study is the use of both male and female student-athletes. Furthermore, excluding participants with a history of depression or any psychological disorder is