Italy
Organisation: European Culture and Sport Organization
Programme name: Nazionale Italiana “Crazy for Football”
City: Rome
Sport / Physical activity: Futsal
Programme information, aims and objectives: The Italian national futsal team of psychiatric patients is a team composed of 14 boys who are in care or treatment at the local mental health services, and who play at football. The boys are selected throughout the national territory in collaboration with the local mental health authorities, day centres, therapeutic communities and in general with all the services on the national territory for mental health. The team represents the symbol of the fight against stigma and the promotion of football, and of sport in general, for the treatment of psychiatric patients. Thanks to the National team and many other initiatives, sport - and football in particular - are taking on an increasingly central role in patients' lives. The numerous local and national tournaments, the passion of doctors and operators, the relative simplicity of involving people with the most popular sport, make the time spent by patients and operators together on the pitches increasingly greater and, thus, the relationship becomes more intense and deep.
Participants: Participants are about 20 boys coming from different mental health centres and communities spread all over the Italian territory. The programme covers all psychiatric conditions.
Sessions: The team’s activities take place different times over the year, when all boys coming from different Italian regions meet in Rome to carry out training sessions, or elsewhere to play matches with other teams.
Evaluation/Measurement of outcomes: During the training sessions, on a regular basis, a team composed of psychiatrists and psychologists, together with the socio-medical workers who follow the players/patients, carries out evaluations based on tools such as the SF-36 (Short Form Health Survey – a 36-item, patient-reported survey of patient health), the QoL test (Quality of Life test) and the Th.O.M.A.S. (Theory of Mind Assessment Scale – a semi-structured interview aimed at assessing a subject's theory of the mind). Patients rarely leave the program.
Contact person: Valerio Di Tommaso
Email: vdt@ecos-europe.com
Telephone: +39 345 9415528
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/italiacrazyforfootball
