Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Psychiatry. Jun 19, 2026; 16(6): 118232
Published online Jun 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v16.i6.118232
Published online Jun 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v16.i6.118232
Effectiveness of a cognitive behavioural intervention on mental health in young footballers: A quasi-experimental study
Beatriz Moreno-Fenoll, Department of Psychology, University of Murcia, Murcia 30100, Spain
Laura Gil-Caselles, HUMSE Research Group, Faculty of Sciences and Sports, University of Murcia, San Javier 30720, Murcia, Spain
Verónica Gomez-Espejo, Aurelio Olmedilla-Zafra, HUMSE Research Group, Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatment Psychology, University of Murcia, Murcia 30100, Spain
Alejo Garcia-Naveira, Department of Psychology, University of Villanueva, Madrid 28034, Spain
Roberto Ruiz-Barquín, Department of Evolutive and Educational Psychology, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain
Author contributions: Moreno-Fenoll B, Gil-Caselles L and Gómez-Espejo V coordinated data collection and drafted the manuscript; Moreno-Fenoll B and Olmedilla-Zafra A conceived and designed the study; Ruiz-Barquín R and Garcia-Naveira A performed the statistical analyses and interpreted the results; all authors contributed to the intervention design, critically revised the manuscript, and approved the final version.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Murcia (Spain) (No. 4734/2023).
Clinical trial registration statement: This study used a quasi-experimental longitudinal design with non-equivalent groups (non-randomized controlled intervention) and was not registered as a clinical trial.
Informed consent statement: All participants provided informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interest in publishing the manuscript.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 Statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 Statement.
Data sharing statement:
De-identified participant data are not publicly available due to ethical and privacy restrictions; however, data may be made available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Corresponding author: Laura Gil-Caselles, PhD, Assistant Professor, HUMSE Research Group, Faculty of Sciences and Sports, University of Murcia, Argentina s/n, San Javier 30720, Murcia, Spain. laura.gilc@um.es
Received: December 29, 2025
Revised: January 17, 2026
Accepted: February 26, 2026
Published online: June 19, 2026
Processing time: 150 Days and 14.8 Hours
Revised: January 17, 2026
Accepted: February 26, 2026
Published online: June 19, 2026
Processing time: 150 Days and 14.8 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: We evaluated whether a cognitive-behavioural intervention could improve mental health outcomes in young footballers using a quasi-experimental design. We compared participants who received the intervention with a comparison group and assessed mental health indicators before and after the programme. Overall, the intervention was associated with improvements in key mental health measures, suggesting that brief, structured cognitive-behavioural strategies may be useful to support psychological wellbeing in youth sport settings. These findings highlight the value of integrating evidence-based mental health interventions within youth football programmes.