Mental health screening for athletes: Program development, implementation, and evaluation

Abstract

The mental health of collegiate student-athletes is a growing concern within university athletics. Student-athletes experience a wide array of mental health concerns (e.g., depression, anxiety); however, due to the stigma of mental health and/or lack of available resources, many student-athletes may not seek support on their own. Thus, we describe the mental health screening process we have developed to educate, assess, and follow-up on collegiate student-athletes’ psychological well-being. Based on our experiences and best practices from the NCAA and NATA, we conclude by offering recommendations for how mental health screening may be conducted at other colleges and universities.

Keywords:

• Best practices
• collegiate athletes
• mental health