The Collaborative Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Mental Health Strategy with Tennis Canada: Value and Recommendations

Abstract

The sport ecology plays a crucial role in promoting and optimizing the mental health (MH) of athletes, coaches, and staff (Henriksen, Huang, et al., 2024; Purcell et al., 2019; Schinke et al., 2024). Recognizing this responsibility, the Mental Health Strategy for High Performance Sport in Canada (the "national MH Strategy") was developed to provide a roadmap for sport organizations to improve MH outcomes within their communities (Durand-Bush & Van Slingerland, 2021). The national MH Strategy outlines five priorities (1-leadership, 2-promotion, 3-prevention, 4-treatment, 5-monitoring), which should be adapted to meet the needs of individual organizations. Despite providing valuable recommendations, there remains a lack of empirical evidence to guide this process, creating a significant challenge for sport psychology practitioners (SPPs), researchers, and organizations wanting to implement system-wide MH initiatives (Prior et al., 2024a).

The purpose of this Participatory Action Research (PAR) project was to collaboratively design, implement, and evaluate a sport-specific version of the "national MH Strategy" with Tennis Canada (TC) leaders. A Core Leadership Team (CLT; n = 5-8) and Task Force (TF; n = 21) were recruited for all three phases (Design, Implementation, and Evaluation) of the project. This project was also conducted in partnership with Game Plan, Own the Podium, and the Canadian Centre for Mental Health and Sport (CCMHS).These participants were positioned as experts through their lived experience (Bergold & Thomas, 2012), facilitating the co-creation of knowledge to develop a contextually relevant strategy that addressed the specific needs of TC's community, and providing insight into the implementation and evaluation. Individuals were strategically recruited to represent different levels (e.g., provincial, national) and groups (e.g., parents, coaches, senior leaders, MH practitioners) of TC's sport ecosystem, using an Ecological Systems Model (Durand-Bush & Van Slingerland, 2021; Purcell et al., 2019).

A multiphase qualitative design was used to carry out three objectives: (a) collaboratively design a sport-specific version of the national MH Strategy with TC (herein referred to as "TC's Strategy") with a CLT and TF, (b) track the implementation of TC's Strategy over one year, and (c) evaluate what TC accomplished in one year and assess the Strategy's intrinsic and extrinsic value. Data were collected using a Needs/Gap Assessment, group discussions, semi-structured interviews, an Implementation Progress Chart, and a reflexive journal. The research culminated in three distinct but related studies and three articles. --

Design Phase (Study 1):

The purpose of Study 1 was to collaboratively design a sport-specific version of the national MH Strategy with TC leaders. To achieve this, a CLT of five members and a TF of 21 members representing TC's community were recruited. The CLT and TF participated in four formal meetings and completed a Needs/Gap Assessment over an 11-month period (June 2022 - May 2023) to co-create the knowledge required to design TC's Strategy. The Needs/Gap Assessment allowed participants to identify which aspects of the national MH Strategy were most relevant to TC and reflect on sport-specific risk and protective factors, resource availability (e.g., human, financial), timelines, and barriers. A directed content analysis generated data organized under an Early, Middle, and Late Phase of the 11-month period. The Early Phase served to analyze the first two TF group discussions and the Needs/Gap Assessment data, resulting in five first-level codes (the five priorities), 12 second-level codes (e.g., service provision, help-seeking, assessment), and 32 third-level codes presented as actions (e.g., use a phased-in approach over a 3-year period, Wellness Director leads implementation of TC's Strategy). The Middle Phase involved transforming the data into the first version of TC's Strategy and obtaining feedback from the TF during the third TF group discussion. The Late Phase involved finalizing TC's 5-priorities, 18-objectives, and 45-actions Strategy and receiving final input from the TF during the fourth TF group discussion. Given the scope and breadth of the Strategy, the plan was to implement the Strategy over three years, with the first year focusing on Priorities 2 and 3, and the target population of TC coaches and staff, and National Tennis Centre athletes and parents. Success factors and challenges were provided along with recommendations to support other organizations wishing to create plans to improve system-wide MH outcomes. Importantly, a Wellness Director was hired in April 2023 and tasked to lead the implementation of TC's Strategy. --

Implementation Phase (Study 2):

The implementation Phase began when TC's Strategy was officially launched in February 2024. Building on Study 1, the purpose of Study 2 was to explore leaders' perspectives on the first year of implementation of TC's Strategy, which occurred between February 2024 and February 2025. The CLT was expanded to eight individuals for additional representation. Sixteen TF members participated in this phase, including the eight CLT members. Data were collected using one TF and 12 CLT group discussions, 11 individual semi-structured interviews, and a reflexive journal. Additionally, the Research Project Lead (RPL) engaged in over 40 meetings with the Wellness Director and Director, High Performance Programs, to track implementation progress and provide input where needed. The reflexive thematic analysis led to the identification of three main themes. The first theme pertained to the leaders' perceived experiences and outcomes, and more specifically, the positive benefits of participating in this phase of the research process (e.g., engagement, learning, support). The second theme related to influential factors that impacted the first year of implementation (e.g., leadership, promotion, implementation framework, wellness and recovery). The third theme comprised recommendations to continue improving the implementation of the Strategy and to close perceived gaps (e.g., organizational change, education). Based on evolving needs and emerging MH initiatives, and supported by the PAR approach, TC's Strategy expanded from 45 to 71 actions throughout this phase. Findings provide relevant insights into how a sport organization can harness diverse leaders to implement MH initiatives and prioritize MH at the organizational level. --

Evaluation Phase (Study 3):

The Evaluation Phase was initiated in March 2025, after the end of the Implementation Phase. The purpose of Study 3 was to examine what TC accomplished in the first year of implementing their Strategy and its intrinsic (merit) and extrinsic (worth) value. The eight-member CLT and 13 members of the 21-member TF participated in this phase. Data were collected between March 2025 and June 2025 using group discussions (three with the CLT; one with the TF), six individual semi-structured interviews with the CLT, an Implementation Progress Chart, and a reflexive journal. The group discussions and interviews served to gather TF and CLT feedback to inform the evaluation. The Implementation Progress Chart was developed by the Wellness Director and the RPL to provide a visual representation of what TC accomplished in the first year of implementation, to support the evaluation. The reflexive journal was used to maintain an audit trail and record reflexive entries. A directed content analysis revealed that TC completed 66 out of the 71 actions (93.0%) in their Strategy. In order of percentage, TC completed 100.0% (8 actions) in Priority 5, 95.7% (22 actions) in Priority 2, 92.3% (12 actions) in Priority 3, 88.9% (16 actions) in Priority 1, and 88.9% (8 actions) in Priority 4. The intrinsic value of the Strategy was described as a cultural shift within TC's community, wherein there was greater MH awareness, reduced stigma, and greater integration of support for athletes, parents, and staff. The extrinsic value was demonstrated through a perceived influence on individuals and organizations beyond TC, such as the international players who competed at the annual National Bank Open tournament hosted by TC, international tournaments (e.g., professional Grand Slams), and the Canadian high performance sport community (e.g., other sport organizations). A context-specific logic model was developed to synthesize the Strategy's inputs, activities, contextual influences, and outcomes, illustrating how TC targeted individual, relational, and organizational dimensions of the sport environment to support athletes, parents, coaches, and staff. Findings support the value of an ecological MH strategy within and beyond a sport organization.

Overall, the current research fills a significant gap, providing empirical evidence on designing, implementing, and evaluating a sport-specific MH strategy using the national MH Strategy as a roadmap. It underscores the importance of engaging a representative and diverse leadership group, having a designated person to lead the implementation of the Strategy, phasing in the Strategy by targeting a smaller population and focusing on one or two priorities, and tracking the perceived outcomes to improve the Strategy. This project also shows the value of adopting a flexible PAR approach to engage a group of leaders in co-creating a meaningful strategy that serves the needs of a sport organization. Finally, it shows the utility of using theoretical frameworks (e.g., Ecological Systems Model) to guide MH initiatives, ensuring decision-making is informed by best practices and research recommendations.