Abstract
Mood responses are a well-established mental health indicator. Gauging mental health status over time often involves periodic mood assessment using a standardized measure, a process referred to as mood profiling. Comparison of observed mood scores against relevant normative data is central to effective mood profiling. The primary purpose of our study was to improve existing norms for the Brunel Mood Scale (BRUMS) using a large internet sample. The secondary purpose was to discuss how mood profiling can be used to promote sustainable mental health primarily among athletes but also with relevance to non-athletes. The BRUMS was completed via the In The Mood website by 15,692 participants. Significant differences between observed mean scores and existing normative data were evident for all six mood dimensions, prompting norm refinement. Specific group norms were generated to address sex differences in mood responses and differences by athlete/nonathlete status. The revised tables of normative data for the BRUMS should be used by researchers in future investigations of mood responses and by applied practitioners seeking to monitor mood responses as an indicator of mental health status. Applications of mood profiling with elite athletes are exemplified, along with recommendations for using mood profiling in the pursuit of sustainable mental health.
Highlights
Sustaining mental health and avoiding mental ill-health has become a significant challenge in the modern world
The mental health of athletes, especially at the elite level, has come under intense scrutiny in recent years [51,52,53,54,55], the International Olympic Committee consensus statement on mental health among elite athletes [55] pointed out that “there are no evidencebased or consensus-based guidelines for diagnosis and management of mental health symptoms and disorders in elite athletes” (p. 667). Given this gap in the provision of reliable guidelines for diagnosis of mental health issues, strategies such as mood profiling that provide indicators of increased risk of psychopathology become especially valuable in protecting mental wellbeing in a sustainable way
This point has been emphasized in recent calls for early intervention frameworks to be implemented in elite sport environments: “Early detection of, and intervention for, mental health symptoms is essential in the elite sporting context” [56]
Summary
Sustaining mental health and avoiding mental ill-health has become a significant challenge in the modern world. In 2017, it was estimated that 792 million people worldwide (i.e., 10.7% of the world’s population) lived with a mental health disorder [1]. COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated mental health challenges globally [2,3,4], including for elite athletes [5,6]. Assessing mood fluctuations over time is a long-established strategy for monitoring mental health [7] and establishing appropriate test norms for mood scales is a critical aspect of the process. Test norms help to determine the relative standing of an individual who has taken a test, providing the basis for comparing the raw scores of an individual to what is normal for a given population [8].
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