Youth sports activity and young people’s well-being after a disaster: a trial with the Mastery Approach to Coaching (MAC) in the Philippines

OBJECTIVE: Sports activities is broadly utilized to support well-being of youth after a disaster or conflict. However, scientific validation of programs have not been conducted. The Mastery Approach to Coaching (MAC) is a coaching-education program on sports activities. The MAC reported to have a positive effect on youngsters’ self-esteem. As self-esteem is generally known to be beneficial for mental status, we tested the effect of a MAC program on students’ self-esteem in a disaster-affected area: Leyte, Philippines. We recruited 10th grade students from three schools; one school was allocated to the MAC intervention and the two schools to the control group. All schools were encouraged to involve students in volleyball from January to February 2015. In January 2015, MAC workshop was conducted in the intervention school before the sports activity. RESULTS: A total of 293 students completed the questionnaires. The intervention school (n = 51) showed a significant change in self-esteem, with the mean score increasing from 20.2 to 21.1 (p = 0.02). Neither school in the control group showed the significant change. The result showed the feasibility and a positive effect of sports activity with the MAC. However, further investigation should be conducted. Trial registration UMIN Clinical Trials Registry ID: UMIN000033197 on June 30th 2018. Retrospectively registered