MeWeSports

Overview

Project MeWeSports simultaneously addresses the mental health and social needs of young people given its focus on engaging in physical activity and skills building that are relevant to dealing with life’s adversities, a sense of belonging, and community cohesion. The program provides for healthy opportunities, organised activities, social engagement, and support through peers, coaches, and the family. Using non-traditional platforms such as community sports clubs we are leveraging the strengths of sports in promoting mental health and empowering existing youth-friendly community resources to prevent substance use initiation and mental health problems.

Rationale

Adolescence is a critical period in which exposure to adversities such as poverty, family conflict, and other negative life experiences can have long-term emotional and socio-economic consequences for adolescents, their families, and communities. Substance use disorders typically emerge before 25 years, are co-morbid in adolescents, and are associated with adverse outcomes later in adult life. In India, adolescents as young as 13-15 years of age have started consuming substances (e.g. alcohol and tobacco). Universal school-based prevention programs can reduce initiation of substance use in young people, but there is inadequate and poor-quality evidence from low-resource settings on comprehensive prevention interventions. MeWeSports addresses this evidence gap by focusing on relevant, innovative, and sustainable strategies that can be used in community-based prevention programs in India.

Progress till date

After extensive formative research conducted to understand adolescent substance use and adolescent’s needs, preferences, and priorities for prevention interventions, we have successfully designed a contextually relevant and evidence-based intervention. The formative research entailed qualitative interviews with adolescents, families, and experts, a cross-sectional survey, a systematic review, and co-production and theory of change workshops with community stakeholders.

The first pilot program was conducted in Goa, where the intervention was delivered by coaches and youth champions to adolescents aged 12-14 years in a school-based sports setting. The data from the pilot program is being used to refine the intervention and prepare for future implementation and evaluation of the intervention.

Output:

Our key outputs include

-          Evidence on the feasibility, acceptability, and potential impact of the MeWeSports intervention.

-          Substance use prevention awareness campaign and materials.

-          Training and intervention manuals for individuals (e.g. educators, coaches) and organizations (e.g. schools) working with young people.

-          Protocols on conducting adolescent substance use prevention research, and monitoring and evaluation protocols to measure impact and quality.

Partners

• Pro Sport Development, India

• Forca Goa Foundation, India

• Oxford Brookes University, UK

• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK