The experiences of social workers in NCAA Division I athletic departments

ABSTRACT

There has been increased attention to mental health programing in collegiate athletics. Social workers are one type of professional that can provide mental health care in the collegiate athletics, but there is limited research on social work practice in a sport setting. Thus, the purpose of this research was to explore the experiences of licensed social workers in a college sport setting. The thematic analysis of interviews with nine social workers produced four themes: (a) in-milieu work; (b) athletic performance; (c) misconceptions; and (d) indirect career path. The findings suggest that in-milieu style work helped social workers build positive relationships with other staff members. However, there was also a misunderstanding of the social workers’ role and no direct career path. Furthermore, the social workers discussed doing some type of performance enhancement work. These results have implications both for programing decisions by athletic departments and also for the social work profession.

KEYWORDS:

• Mental health
• student-athletes
• holistic care
• collegiate athletics
• social work
• interprofessional care
• ecological systems theory
• NCAA

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lauren Beasley

Lauren Beasley, LMSW (she/her/hers) is a licensed social worker, and current doctoral candidate in sport management at the University of Tennessee. Her research focuses on the intersection of social work and sport, looking at best practices for the inclusion of social workers in sport organizations, the mental health of athletes, health and mental health literacy, and Title IX implementation in athletic departments.

Robin Hardin

Dr. Robin Hardin is a professor in the Sport Management program in the Department of Kinesiology, Recreation, & Sport Studies at the University of Tennessee. His research focuses on collegiate athletics, specifically in the areas of governance, consumer behavior, and the holistic care of student-athletes.

John Magliocca

Dr. John Magliocca is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sport & Exercise Sciences at SUNY Oneonta. His research interests include constraints to attendance at athletic contests, issues facing non-autonomous athletic departments, and the holistic care of NCAA student-athletes.

Zachary T. Smith

Zachary T. Smith is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the School of Behavioral Sciences and Education at Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg. His research focuses on the intersection of religions and physical cultures, which he is currently pursuing via an ethnographic exploration of evangelical Christian mixed martial arts in the U.S. He also enjoys reading, writing, and teaching on qualitative research methods.