The use of sport as a means to provide psychosocial support to people affected by disaster is a relatively new area of sport and development. A small number of research efforts and project evaluations have begun to help us understand the link between participation in sport and physical activity and trauma relief. While it is not yet clear how sport programmes might be effective in relieving trauma, the little evidence available (most of which focuses on children and youth) has shown that sport and play activities can enhance resilience, facilitate emotional and social stabilisation and the acquisition of new skills and abilities in people affected by disasters.

In the humanitarian sector, recommendations and guidelines provide the basis for training and development and in planning and delivering psychosocial sport programmes in disaster response. Practitioners should be aware of a number of international instruments in humanitarian relief.

There are a number of disaster response interventions that use sport as a psychosocial tool to help survivors of such events to overcome trauma and strengthen resiliency.