SPHERE PROJECT

Sport  Healing Rehabilitation

The Project

The projects aims to define and validate a sport scientific protocol improved by psychiatrists, academic researchers and sport professionals. The protocol will allow to identify the most suitable sport for psychiatric patients with different diagnoses and backgrounds in order to improve their psychophysical well-being.

Project summary

SPHERE addresses social inclusion and equal opportunities in sport, since it is a project aimed at fostering sport and physical activity in the psychiatric rehabilitation programs through the definition and sharing of a sport scientific protocol improved by psychiatrists and academic researchers.

The protocol will allow to identify the most suitable sport for psychiatric patients with different diagnoses and backgrounds in order to improve their psychophysical well-being.

The project is based on the collaboration between sports, mental health and education sectors in order to foster physical activity in the rehabilitation programs of psychiatric patients, since they are almost exclusively treated with pharmacological therapies which in the long run – as a consequence of the side effects associated with drugs intake – may cause other psychophysical problems.

Starting from a general investigation of the best practices and entities in the European Union regarding sport and mental health, the project aims to establish a scientific committee that will define the general guidelines on which the pilot projects will be carried out.

The project is addressed to all people with mental health problems in order to improve their quality of life and protect their rights, dignity and inclusion through the creation of therapeutic paths able to combine the typical sports training sessions together with psychiatric rehabilitation.

General Objectives

  • To provide quality information and knowledge about the benefits of sport and physical activity on mental health.
  • To make mental health services more accessible and integrated in the communities.
  • To have a cross-sectoral approach by involving entities related to Sport, Health and Education.
  • To train psychiatrists, coaches, sport and medical operators in managing psychiatric patients.
  • To promote psychiatric rehabilitation programs focused on sport and physical activity.
  • To build a transnational network to pursue the project’s main purpose.

The Partnership

 

Full List of Partners

  • European Sport and Culture Organization (Italy);
  • Finnish Sport Federation Tampere Region – HLU (Finland);
  • Cardiff Metropolitan University – CMU (United Kingdom);
  • Rijeka Sports Association for Persons with Disabilities – SSOI (Croatia);
  • Technical University of Munich – TUM (Germany);
  • European Platform for Sport Innovation – EPSI (Belgium);
  • Everton in the Community – EitC (United Kingdom)

Transnational Project Meetings

  1. Kick-off meeting – 01/2019, CONI, Rome (Italy)
  2. Training course – 07/2019, EPSI House of Sport, Brussels (Belgium)
  3. Intermediate meeting – 12/2019, HLU office, Tampere (Finland)
  4. Scientific Committee and partners meeting – 06/2020, UoG, Cheltenham (UK)
  5. Final meeting – 12/2020, TUM, Munich (Germany)

Multiplier Sport Events

  1. SPHERE Open Day– Event to present the project and disseminate the training guidelines and the experimental projects results. (01/2020 – Liverpool, organised by EitC).
  2. SPHERE Results– Event with conference and video (12/2020 – Rome, organised by ECOS).

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