Evaluating the effectiveness of a mental-health literacy intervention on stigma perceptions and help-seeking behaviour in South African student-athletes

University athletes face disproportionate psychological pressure, and help-seeking is frequently stigmatised within high-performance sporting environments. Therefore, this study evaluated the effectiveness of a two-session mental-health literacy intervention designed to reduce mental-illness stigma and improve help-seeking attitudes and intentions among student-athletes. Utilising a within-group pretest-posttest experimental design, the study collected data from a convenient sample of seventy-seven male and female student-athletes (Mage = 20.92 years, SD = 2.03) using an online test battery consisting of items from the Mental Health Literacy Scale, Depression Stigma Scale, Attitudes Towards Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale-Short Form, and The Intentions to Seek Counselling Inventory. Wilcoxon signed-rank test results indicated a statistically significant improvement in the overall mental-health literacy following the intervention (z = −5.65, p < 0.001). Similarly, personal stigma scores were significantly reduced (z = −5.14, p < 0.001), suggesting a meaningful attenuation of stigmatising beliefs. Interestingly, overall attitudes toward seeking professional help became significantly less positive post-intervention (z = −4.81; p < 0.001). Conversely, behavioural intentions to seek counselling were significantly bolstered (z = −7.25, p < 0.001). These noted changes had medium-to-large effect sizes. Findings underscore the ecological utility of brief mental-health literacy workshops in reducing stigma and bolstering help-seeking intentions among student-athletes. Integrating such interventions into standard sport psychology protocols is recommended, with future research needed to assess the long-term durability of these effects.