Calciosociale is football which aims to promote social integration organised by ANPIS (Associazione Nazionale Polisportive per l’Integrazione Sociale) in Italy. Italian People with mental health problems live in the community and enjoy participating in calciosociale. This calciosociale is “football”, however, it has different aims and rules from general football. The aims of this paper is to introduce calciosociale referring to the history of mental health promotion and social backgrounds in Italy. It also identified differences between the calciosociale and the futsal for people with mental health problems promoting in Japan. Furthermore, it explores the issues how to promote international football movement and collaborate with Italy.

We launched Saitama-Campione with the objective of promoting health, improving the quality of life, and improving the social participation of mentally handicapped persons through futsal.

At the beginning, we emphasized the entertainment aspect of futsal, but after many discussions, we shifted our emphasis to competition. At the time of this transition, the players started showing more competitiveness. They became less rigid, and atmosphere became less stuffy.

According to a survey conducted on a tournament day, the players wrote their wishes and appreciation to the staff in more legible handwriting. The result also shows that when the players are more concerned with winning, rather than playing just for fun, they are more likely to participate in the tournaments of their own free will, and participation helped them make more friends.

Competitive sports are being recognized as a psychosocial treatment for the increased self-esteem via recognition by others and successful experiences. Henceforth, I hope to help mentally handicapped persons realize a more normalized life while validating the evidence scientifically.

Sleep complaints increase with aging. Furthermore there is an association between sleep and mood, and thus it is important for mental health to improve sleep. Although exercise is considered to improve sleep, detailed relationship between exercise and sleep has not been well studied. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of one-month exercise program on sleep and mood in elderly. Sleep diary, Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and physical test (Timed Up & Go Test, one-leg standing with vision, and trunk flexion) were used. Subjects performed the exercise which included the strength training to do one’s own weight at early-evening twice a week. After one-month exercise program, percentage of subjects who still sleep in period between 6：30 and 6：45 a.m. were significantly decreased. The GDS score and trunk flexion were significantly improved after exercise intervention. These results indicate the possibility that short-term exercise program can improve sleep and mood as well as physical wellness in elderly.

People with mental health problems in Italy have attempted to obtain sport rights through football movement in the history of the community mental health promotion. As a result of such movement, the national championships have been held since the 1990s. In order to contribute to the worldwide development of football movement for people with mental health problems, this study examines how Italy has succeeded in promoting football and which policies and systems in the field of mental health problems have had an impact on the enhancement of the football movement. To do so, this study conducted interviews with two medical doctors who have been leading the football movement. This study found the three key points. First, the 1978 Basaglia Law had influenced on the development of sport, including the football movement of people with mental health problems. Second, it identified that sports for people with mental health problems have been systematized in the area of public mental health services. Third, there are two types of championships in Italy; one is mainly for people with mental health problems (which is similar to championships in Japan) organised by UISP (Unione Italiana Sport Per Tutti). The other aims to promote social integration to minority people, including people with mental health problems, organised by ANPIS (Associazione Nazionale Polisportive per l’Integrazione Sociale).

Athletes face the pressure to win, which may lead to depression and chronic fatigue syndrome. However, proper environment and treatment for athletes are not specifically studied and provided to a sufficient extent. Therefore, we have studied the relationship between the physiological and psychological factors related to those problems on female long-distance runner. Seventeen long-distance runners (runner group, 19.1±0.1 y.o., mean±S.E.) and 12 general college females (control group, 19.4±0.3 y.o.) participated in this study. Resting autonomic nervous system activity was assessed by heart rate variability power spectral analysis, which enabled us to identify separate frequency components, i. e., total power (all over autonomic nervous system activity), low-frequency power (mostly sympathetic nervous system activity), and high-frequency power (parasympathetic nervous system activity). We used the Profile of Mood States (POMS) to evaluate psychological factors. The Spearman rank correlation was calculated to assess the correlation between autonomic nervous system activity and the POMS. The results revealed that the runner group possessed significant lower heart rate (50.6±1.6 vs. 67.5±1.9 bpm, runner group vs. control group, p＜0.001, mean±S.E.), and remarkably-high total power (3,535.9±942.1 vs. 1,015.2±183.6 ms², p＝0.018), low-frequency power (1,882.7±591.2 vs. 503.0±90.1 ms², p＝0.034), and high-frequency power (1,653.2±477.6 vs. 512.2±124.5 ms², p＝0.033), respectively. Interestingly, in the runner group, the sympathetic nervous system activity was significantly and inversely correlated with the Vigor of the POMS. The autonomic nervous system activity is known as “fight or flight”, and indicates that there is a possibility to reflect “stress” in the human body. Our study suggests that evaluation of autonomic nervous system activity among the female long-distance runner might be useful for developing an evaluation system to manage stress and to improve athletes’ competitive abilities.

Aim：To investigate the effects of attending a lecture on “Sportsmanship for Japanese” on purpose in life (as assessed through the ’Purpose in Life Test’ Part A：PIL-A) and self-esteem (assessed according to the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale Japanese version：RSES-J) among participants in a sports activity program centered on the playing of competitive games.

Methods：The subjects of this research were participants in 3 sports programs led by the author between April and July 2011. The participants were 122 adults (31 women and 91 men, including 17 individuals with mental disorders). All of the research subjects attended a 1-hour lecture on the subject of “Sportsmanship for Japanese” before participating in a sports activity program which centered on the playing of competitive games. In this program, sessions were held about 10 times (once a week for 90 minutes). Both before and after the sports program, each participant completed a questionnaire relating to PIL-A and RSES-J. After the sports program, the participants completed a questionnaire designed to discover whether attending the “Sportsmanship for Japanese” lecture had improved their attitude to participating in sports activities.

Results：The lecture had improved the participants’ attitude to participating in sports activities. (No participant responded that they were “not influenced”). There was a significant increase in the average PIL-A score after the sports program by comparison with before (94.81±17.71⇒101.89±14.77：p<0.001). There was a significant increase in the average RSES-J score after the sports program by comparison with before (25.19±3.60⇒26.16±3.54：p<0.001).

Conclusion：This study found that attending the lecture on “Sportsmanship for Japanese” improved the attitude of the subjects when participating in sports activities. Moreover, participating in a sports activity program centered on the playing of competitive games after attending the “Sportsmanship for Japanese” lecture improved the participants’ purpose in life, and may have improved their self-esteem.

One of the important issues in sport psychology that have come to light in Japan is resilience. Resilience refers to “the process of, capacity for, or outcome of successful adaptation despite challenging or threatening circumstances” (Masten et al., 1990). The purpose of this study was to develop Psychological Resilience Scale for University Athletes (PRSUA) and to examine the relationship between subscales of PRSUA, socio-demographic variables and stress response variables.

The subjects of 377 university athletes (male＝188, female＝189; mean age＝19.70, SD＝1.20) were asked to answer a questionnaire that was composed of socio-demographic questions, 56 PRSUA question items that were acquired from our preliminary survey in June, 2010, and 32 question items of Stress Response Scale for High School Athletes (SRSHSA) developed by Shibukura et al. (1999). Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis were conducted to develop the PRSUA. In order to examine the socio-demographic differences, t-test and one-way ANOVA were conducted. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the correlation between PRSUA and SRSHSA.

The results of exploratory factor analysis identified a six-factor model with 24 items on PRSUA：“Social Support from Teammates (SST),” “Social Support from Friends (SSF),” “Athletic Physical Toughness (APT),” “Athletic Self-understanding (ASU),” “Athletic Motivation and Challenge (AMC)” and “Athletic Mental Toughness (AMT).” Confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis confirmed that PRSUA had satisfactory fit indices of structural validities and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient reliabilities. The results of t-test showed that the mean scores of “SST,” “SSF,” “APT,” “AMC,” “PRSUA,” were significantly different between male and female, and the mean scores of “SST,” “SSF,” “APT,” “ASU,” “AMC,” “AMT,” “PRSUA,” were significantly different between higher-performance-level athletes who had experiences of participating in national athletic competitions and lower-performance-level athletes who did not. The results of one-way ANOVA showed that the mean scores of “SST,” “SSF,” “APT,” “ASU,” “AMC,” “AMT,” “PRSUA,” were significantly different among regular athletes, semi-regular athletes and non-regular athletes. The results of stepwise multiple regression analyses that were set PRSUA subscales as independent variables and SRSHSA subscales as dependent variables showed that the sub-scales of PRSUA were significantly associated with the sub-scales of SRSHSA.

The results above indicates that higher-performance-level athletes are likely to have higher psychological resilience and that PRSUA can be a valuable tool in multidimensional evaluation of university athletes’ psychological resilience as well as correlate with SRSHSA. In future research, structural equation models for the effect of resilience on stress responses and burnout will need to be explored as another tool of psychological measurement such as Burnout Scale and Dropout Scale.

The case study focuses on a top female athlete who is competing in the long distance races. Currently, she is 20 years old. She is a core athlete in a corporate team in a local city. In order to take part in competitive races and have trainings, she had been away from her home for a long period. An Achilles injury and bad physical condition had impacted on the results of races. In addition, her head coach reprimanded her for her unsuccessful results. In particular, her coach’s reprehension influenced her to suffer depression. She was recommended by a medical doctor of the sport clinic to return to her hometown for a treatment and rest. After she returned to her hometown, the author took over for her treatment. Although the treatment for her condition does not have major differences from non-athlete cases, this study found three typical characteristics of athlete’s condition. First, because of many travels for races and trainings, she had faced a difficulty to see her doctor. Second, there are small numbers of psychiatric doctors who make a diagnosis for athletes. Third, many people both persons concerned and outsiders are involved with athlete. This paper introduces the case that an athlete succeeded on returning to races as a result of establishment of partnerships with persons concerned with athlete (doctor, a clinical psychotherapist and team officials).

In recent years, it has been reported that sports activity increases the quality of life (QoL) for mentally disabled people, thus the promotion of sports for mentally disabled people has developed into a national initiative. To increase and maintain health, people must develop a healthy lifestyle and a habit of exercising that benefits the individuals’ health. The truth is that two-thirds of the nation’s people do not have an exercise routine and, even healthy persons only exercise periodically, consequently it is hard to maintain a prolonged exercise routine. The current study concentrates on an approach to maintaining a continued exercise routine. The participants in this study are patients in psychiatry clinic short-term care A (a 29-year-old male with obsessive-compulsive disorder) and B (a 27-year-old female with borderline personality disorder). For six months, aerobic exercise was incorporated into their daily lives. The results showed fitness improvement and an increase in the number of steps taken; compared with the participants’ previous lives, they had incorporated exercise into their daily routine. From the current study, it was found that to maintain a continuous exercise routine, it was important to have exercise as the intermediary between the patient and therapist to build relationships of trust.