Implementation of the International Olympic Committee Sport Mental Health Assessment Tool 1: Screening for Mental Health Symptoms in a Canadian Multisport University Program

Objective:To apply the International Olympic Committee Sport Mental Health Assessment Tool 1 (SMHAT-1) to determine the prevalence of mental health symptoms in a cohort of university student athletes over an academic year. A secondary objective was to explore the internal consistency of the screening tools from the SMHAT-1.Design:Cross-sectional design with 3 repeated measurements over an academic year.Setting:A large university multisport program.Participants:Five hundred forty-two university-level student athletes from 17 sports.Intervention:N/A.Main Outcome Measures:On 3 occasions, the participants completed the SMHAT-1, which consists of the Athlete Psychological Strain Questionnaire. If an athlete's score was above the threshold (>= 17), the athlete completed step 2, consisting of (1) Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7; (2) Patient Health Questionnaire-9; (3) Athlete Sleep Screening Questionnaire; (4) Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test Consumption; (5) Cutting Down, Annoyance by Criticism, Guilty Feeling, and Eye-openers Adapted to Include Drugs; and (6) Brief Eating Disorder in Athletes Questionnaire. Internal consistency of the SMHAT-1 was also measured.Results:Participants reported mental health symptoms with prevalence of 24% to 40% for distress, 15% to 30% for anxiety, 19% to 26% for depression, 23% to 39% for sleep disturbance, 49% to 55% for alcohol misuse, 5% to 10% for substance use, and 72% to 83% for disordered eating. Female athletes were more likely to suffer psychological strain, depression, and sleep disturbance; male athletes were more likely to report substance use.Conclusions:The SMHAT-1 was feasible to implement with good internal consistency. University-level athletes suffer from a variety of mental health symptoms underscoring the necessity for team physicians to have the clinical competence to recognize and treat mental health symptoms.

Automated summary

The study aims to use the International Olympic Committee Sport Mental Health Assessment Tool 1 (SMHAT-1) to determine the prevalence of mental health symptoms in university student athletes over an academic year. The study also explores the internal consistency of the screening tools from the SMHAT-1. The results show that university-level athletes generally suffer from mental health symptoms, highlighting the necessity for team physicians to have the clinical competence to recognize and treat these symptoms.