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Sports officials are exposed to numerous performance and personal stressors, however little is known about their mental health and psychological wellbeing. This study investigated levels of mental health and psychological wellbeing of sports officials in Australia, and the demographic, officiating, and workplace factors associated with these outcomes. An online survey consisting of demographic and officiating questions, and measures of work engagement, mental health and psychological wellbeing was completed by 317 officials. A negative emotional symptoms score was computed. Associations between key demographic, officiating, and workplace factors with negative emotional symptoms and psychological wellbeing were assessed using univariate and multivariate analyses. Officials who were younger, not in a committed relationship, having lower levels of education, and less officiating experience reported higher levels of negative emotional symptoms, while males, older than 50 years, in a committed relationship and more officiating experience had higher levels of psychological wellbeing. The ability to self-manage workload and demonstrate professional autonomy were strongly associated with negative emotional symptoms and psychological wellbeing. Officials reported high negative emotional symptoms, but also high levels of psychological wellbeing. The ability to manage workload and to express professional autonomy are important determinants of mental health and wellbeing levels of sports officials.

Background: Research has highlighted the multitude of factors that are negatively associated with coach mental well-being but has failed to investigate how the determinants of mental well-being can affect the coach both positively and negatively. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to investigate levels of mental well-being among sport coaches and assess whether areas of work life-specifically workload and control-are related to levels of mental well-being. Method: An online survey comprising demographic and coaching experience details, the Areas of Work Life Scale (AWS), and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale was completed by 464 Australian coaches involved in a range of sports. Differences in coach mental well-being according to key demographic and coaching-related subgroups were assessed using separate t-test and ANOVA analyses and the magnitude of effects was determined using Cohen's d and the eta-squared ( ή 2 ) statistics. Multiple linear regression was used to examine relationships between both workload and control and mental well-being after controlling for age, gender, coaching setting and weekly coaching activity. Results: The findings indicate poorer mental well-being among both male and younger coaches and indicate that coach mental well-being is related to the ability to self-manage the workload associated with their role as a coach as well as greater autonomy over coaching-related tasks and activities. Specifically, a one-unit increase in AWS workload and AWS control were associated with ~three- and ~four-unit increases in coach mental well-being, respectively. Conclusion : Greater provision of resources and education is required to assist coaches to manage their own mental well-being, while being supported by the organisation they coach for. Enabling coaches to balance their coaching requirements and to have control over their environment will improve their ability to constantly coach at a high standard.

Aim: The aim of this study was to report normative data for the parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) from a large population cohort of young children aged 4-6 years from Victoria, Australia, to establish age- and sex-specific cut-off values for future use, and to determine the scale reliability of the SDQ for children aged 4-6 years., Methods: Parents of children (n = 53 372) entering their first year of school in Victoria in 2010 completed a survey via a 15-page School Entrant Health Questionnaire reporting on the physical and emotional well-being of their child (including the SDQ), use of child health and other support services, and a range of socio-demographic variables. Reliability was assessed and norms generated. Appropriate cut-off values for each SDQ scale and total difficulties scale were generated for each age group separately for each sex., Results: The five scales of the SDQ and total difficulties scale generally had acceptable internal reliability. Mean SDQ scale scores differed for both sex and age, although only a narrow age range is examined in this study. Cut-off values were marginally higher for girls (lower for prosocial) and generally increased with age., Conclusions: This study has utilised a large Australian population sample of children to generate age- and sex-specific cut-off values that define SDQ scores as 'normal', 'borderline' or 'abnormal' for Australian children aged 4-6 years., (© 2015 The Authors. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2015 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians).)

Objectives: A number of cross-sectional and prospective studies have now been published demonstrating inverse relationships between diet quality and the common mental disorders in adults. However, there are no existing prospective studies of this association in adolescents, the onset period of most disorders, limiting inferences regarding possible causal relationships., Methods: In this study, 3040 Australian adolescents, aged 11-18 years at baseline, were measured in 2005-6 and 2007-8. Information on diet and mental health was collected by self-report and anthropometric data by trained researchers., Results: There were cross-sectional, dose response relationships identified between measures of both healthy (positive) and unhealthy (inverse) diets and scores on the emotional subscale of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), where higher scores mean better mental health, before and after adjustments for age, gender, socio-economic status, dieting behaviours, body mass index and physical activity. Higher healthy diet scores at baseline also predicted higher PedsQL scores at follow-up, while higher unhealthy diet scores at baseline predicted lower PedsQL scores at follow-up. Improvements in diet quality were mirrored by improvements in mental health over the follow-up period, while deteriorating diet quality was associated with poorer psychological functioning. Finally, results did not support the reverse causality hypothesis., Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of diet in adolescence and its potential role in modifying mental health over the life course. Given that the majority of common mental health problems first manifest in adolescence, intervention studies are now required to test the effectiveness of preventing the common mental disorders through dietary modification.

In the last five years, mental health and wellbeing has attracted greater public, government, and research interest. In sport, athlete mental health and wellbeing has been a focus across all competition levels. The high performance coach responsible for athlete performance, health and wellbeing has not attracted the same attention despite working in an intense high-pressure work environment. Using the Areas of Work Life Model as a theoretical framework, this Insights paper discusses the existing coaching literature to ascertain both contributing factors for promoting positive mental health and wellbeing, and negative influences that increase stress and potential burnout. The six dimensions (workload; control; reward; fairness; community; and values) resonate throughout the coaching literature, but to-date, no study has applied the model to this group. Analysis of the extracted articles indicated that high performance coaches should become more self-aware around how to cope with stress and stressful situations, while sports organisations should invest in both the individual coach and the organisational culture to enhance work engagement. Coaches are performers and should prepare themselves to ensure they can perform at their peak; and managing their own mental health and wellbeing is an important component to this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This study examines the relationship between diet quality and health-related quality of life ( HRQoL) in rural and urban Australian adolescents, and gender differences. Design Cross-sectional. Setting Secondary schools. Participants 722 rural and 422 urban students from 19 secondary schools. Main outcome measures Self-report dietary-related behaviours, demographic information, HRQoL ( AQoL-6D) were collected. Healthy and unhealthy diet quality scores were calculated; multiple linear regression investigated associations between diet quality and HRQoL. Results Compared to urban students, rural students had higher HRQoL, higher healthy diet score, lower unhealthy diet score, consumed less soft drink and less frequently, less takeaway and a higher proportion consumed breakfast (P < 0.05). Overall, males had higher unhealthy diet score, poorer dietary behaviours but a higher HRQoL score compared to females (P < 0.05). In all students, final regression models indicated: a unit increase in healthy diet score was associated with an increase in HRQoL (unstandardised coefficient(B)±standard error( SE); B = 0.02 ± 0.01( SE); P < 0.02); and a unit increase in unhealthy diet scores was associated with a decrease in HRQoL (−0.01 ± 0.00; P < 0.05). In rural students alone, a unit increase in unhealthy diet score was associated with a decrease in HRQoL (B = −0.01 ± 0.00; P = 0.002), and in urban students a unit increase in healthy diet score was associated with an increase in HRQoL (B = 0.02 ± 0.00; P < 0.001). Conclusions Cross-sectional associations between diet quality and HRQoL were observed. Dietary modification may offer a target to improve HRQoL and general well-being; and consequently the prevention and treatment of adolescent health problems. Such interventions should consider gender and locality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Rural and regional Australians have a higher likelihood of mental illness throughout their lifetime than people living in major cities, although the underlying reasons are not yet well defined. Additionally, rural populations experience more lifestyle associated co-morbidities including obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Research conducted by the National Centre for Farmer Health between 2004 and 2009 revealed a positive correlation between obesity and psychological distress among the farming community. Chronic stress is known to overstimulate the regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and cortisol secretion which are associated with abdominal adiposity. Increasing physical activity may normalise cortisol secretion and thereby positively impact both physical and mental health. This paper assesses the effects of increasing physical activity on obesity, health behaviors and mental health in Victorian farming men and women. Methods Farming Fit was a six month quasi-experimental (convenience sample) longitudinal design control-intervention study. Overweight or obese (BMI ≥25 kg/m²) farm men (n = 43) and women (n = 29) were recruited with demographic, health behaviors, anthropometric, blood pressure and biochemistry data collected at baseline and at a six months. Salivary cortisol and depression anxiety stress scale results were collected at baseline, three and six months. The intervention group (n = 37) received a personalized exercise program and regular phone coaching to promote physical activity. Results The intervention group showed significant reductions in body weight and waist circumference. Results indicated that following the six month exercise program, the intervention group were 2.64 ± 0.65 kg lighter (p < 0.001), had reduced waist circumference by 2.01 ± 0.86 cm (p = 0.02) and BMI by 0.97 ± 0.22 kg/m ² (p < 0.001) relative to the control group. Conclusion Increasing physical activity altered measures of obesity in farm men and women but did not affect mental health measures or cortisol secretion levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, psychological distress and associations between physical and mental health parameters within a cohort of the Australian farming community. Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study. Setting: Farming communities across Australia. Participants: Data of men ( n = 957) and women ( n = 835) farmers from 97 locations across Australia were stratified into categories based on National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines. Main outcome measure(s): Prevalence of and interrelationship between overweight, obesity, dyslipidaemia, hypertension, diabetes risk and psychological distress. Results: There was a higher prevalence of overweight (42.5%, 95% confidence interval (CI), 34.2-50.8), obesity (21.8%, 95% CI, 18.3-25.3), abdominal adiposity (38.4% 95% CI, 24.5-52.5), hypertension (54.0%, 95% CI, 34.4-73.5) and diabetes risk (25.3%, 95% CI, 17.7-36.7) in the farming cohort compared with national data. There was also a positive significant association between the prevalence of psychological distress and obesity, abdominal adiposity, body fat percentage and metabolic syndrome in older (age ≥ 50 years) participants. Conclusions: This study group of farming men and women exhibited an increased prevalence of CVD risk factors and co-morbidities. The findings indicate a positive association between psychological distress and risk for developing CVD, particularly in the older farmers. If the younger cohort were to maintain elevated rates of psychological distress, then it is foreseeable that the next generation of farmers could experience poorer physical health than their predecessors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]