‘A mouthpiece to make a positive impact’: Australian journalists’ attitudes, knowledge, and experiences reporting on mental ill-health and suicide in sportspeople

Abstract

The media is a significant source of information about mental health and can considerably influence public attitudes. Elite sportspeople are role models for young people and prominent figures in Australian culture. However, little is known about journalists’ attitudes, experiences, and training needs for reporting on mental ill-health and suicide in high-profile athletes and coaches. An invitation email for a cross-sectional online survey was sent directly to journalists. The survey included demographic characteristics, and measures assessing their knowledge and attitudes towards mental health and suicide, and views, experiences and training needs for reporting on mental ill-health and suicide in sportspeople. Inductive qualitative content analysis of the written responses was conducted, and mean scores and percentages were calculated for the quantitative measures. A total of 81 Australian journalists (43 identified as women; 38 identified as men) aged 22–76 years (M = 22.0, SD = 13.8) participated in the study. Participants had diverse opinions on the media's responsibility when reporting mental health and suicide in elite sportspeople, with some believing they had an important role in reducing stigma. Notably, almost half of the participants had never received training on how to report on mental ill-health and suicide. Given that there are no current guidelines for reporting on these issues for sportspeople, further training resources are likely to be beneficial. However, training format, content and delivery may need to be shaped around journalists’ preferences and information needs, including delivery by experts such as those with lived experience, researchers, and practitioners.