Exploring knowledge users’ perceptions of UK para-athlete mental health: applying an ecological systems model approach
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Paralympic athletes are at high-risk of experiencing mental health issues, which have the capacity to impair quality of life and athletic performance. There is limited understanding of the demands that impact upon Paralympic athletes’ mental health in relation to the broader ecology of elite sport environments. This understanding is important given the role that sporting knowledge users play in preventing, signposting, and supporting mental health issues within sports settings. Our study qualitatively explores the perspectives of UK Paralympic sport knowledge users in relation to the occurrence of mental health issues among UK Paralympic athletes. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 23 knowledge users who currently work within UK Paralympic sport programmes across 12 sporting organisations. Participants took part in a single semi-structured interview, which lasted between 49 and 83 minutes (Total = 1538 minutes, M = 66 minutes). Reflexive thematic analysis was used to establish key themes in relation to perspectives towards Paralympic athlete mental health across different levels of the sporting ecosystem (individual, microsystem, exosystem, and macrosystem). Three higher order themes were established via interpretive data analysis: a) Representing the Paralympic difference, b) Approaches to mental health, support, and management in Paralympic sport, and c) Navigating the demands of Paralympic sport. Our findings have implications for theory and practice across the Para-sport ecosystem, informing the development of system-wide mental health directives via policy developments and organisational guidelines and bespoke education resources for support networks, and interventions for individual Para-athletes targeted at mitigating the potentially detrimental effects of mental ill-health.
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7214408882