National Collegiate Athletic Association Athletic Departments’ Mental Health Screening Practices: Who, What, When, and How

in Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology

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Megan Drew University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4848-0352 *
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Trent A. Petrie University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA

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Tess Palmateer University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1123/jcsp.2021-0036
Keywords:
collegiate athletes; psychological well-being; suicide; depression; anxiety
First Published Online:
25 Sep 2021
In Print:
Volume 17: Issue 2
Page Range:
131–147
Restricted access

College student athletes face unique, sport-related stressors that may lead to, or exacerbate, mental health (MH) concerns and symptoms. Although the National Collegiate Athletic Association has identified MH screening as a best practice, minimal data exist regarding contemporary screening practices. We explored National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I (DI), Division II (DII), and Division III (DIII) athletic departments’ current MH screening practices (N = 264). Compared with DII/DIII (53%), a greater percentage of Division I (89%) conducted formal MH screening. At DII/DIII institutions, athletic trainers were more likely to both administer and review screeners than any other sports medicine professional; sport psychologists primarily oversaw these tasks at DI schools. DI, compared with DII/DIII, institutions were more likely to have had a student athlete attempt suicide (62% vs. 40%) and participate in inpatient treatment (69% vs. 43%). There is a clear need for the National Collegiate Athletic Association to continue to promote policies that support MH screening and to create mechanisms in which it can monitor institutional involvement.

Supplementary Materials

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    • Supplementary Table S12 (pdf 523 KB)
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