University of California-San Francisco · Social ScienceCommunity Sports and Mental Health Initiative
Mara Decker · San Francisco, California
Research Focus
Dr. Mara Decker's lab focuses on improving the mental health of newcomer refugee and immigrant youth in the United States through a community-based sports intervention. The project, called 'Meet Me on the Pitch,' aims to integrate sports with behavioral health services to help these youth overcome barriers to accessing care. By training soccer coaches to deliver culturally appropriate support, the lab seeks to foster community connection and enhance health outcomes.
mental healthrefugee youthcommunity healthsports interventionhealth equitybehavioral healthsocial determinants of healthimmigrant healthyouth engagement
Research Aims
5AIM 01Develop and refine a community-based mental health intervention for newcomer youth.
AIM 02Assess the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention among participants.
AIM 03Measure the short-term impact of the sports intervention on mental health outcomes.
AIM 04Engage community members in the design and implementation of the intervention.
AIM 05Transform behavioral health service delivery to better serve underserved youth.
Skills the Lab Values
community engagementmixed-methods researchfocus groupslongitudinal surveysdata collection and analysisbehavioral health trainingprogram evaluationrandomized controlled trialscultural competency
Output against the department
Publications16bottom 5% of dept.73rd of 77
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations19bottom 4% of dept.74th of 77
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.