Response to Tomalski et al. (2019): Recommendations for Adapting a Comprehensive Athlete Mental Health Screening Program for Broad Dissemination

Abstract

Mental health screening of athletes is of increasing concern to key stakeholders (e.g., sport administrators, psychologists, performance consultants, and coaches) at many institutions and governing bodies in the United States. Recently, Tomalski et al. (2019) described the implementation of a comprehensive collegiate student-athlete mental health screening program, including recommendations for professionals interested in replicating this program at other institutions. This excellent program involves resources and staffing that many institutions may not have. The current paper describes a variety of recommended adaptations of this comprehensive program and additional considerations to help professionals who have fewer resources or less institutional support to implement key aspects of student-athlete mental health screening. Specifically, recommendations for how to address staffing and time limitations, identify mental health providers, select screening questionnaires that maximize classification accuracy, and encourage accurate student-athlete reporting of mental health concerns are provided. Moreover, we emphasize the importance and utility of supporting mental health literacy of coaching staff as a cornerstone to effective mental health screening and intervention with collegiate student-athletes.