Systematic Review: Mental Health Screening Tools for Collegiate Athletes

The mental health of college athletes has become a priority for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and for athletic departments across numerous Colleges and Universities. Sport social work has limited research exploring empirical evidence on the use and effectiveness of specific mental health assessments for the population of college athletes. College athletes experience a plethora of stressors and mental health concerns that will require the use of mental health assessments to determine the appropriate level of care. A systematic review was conducted utilizing the Cochrane Handbook of Systematic Reviews for Interventions. An initial search of sport social work literature yielded 1,199 articles. After the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, five articles remained that met the full criteria for inclusion. Results indicate there are mental health assessment tools that have empirical data supporting their use with college athletes. Although appropriate mental health screening tools were identified, future research is necessary to expand the breadth of empirical data that supports additional mental health assessment tools for specific use with the population of college athletes. These tools should include a positive psychology component to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health care in the college athlete population and increase their likeliness to engage in mental health services.