“I’m feeling the need to make copies of myself”: A descriptive study of practitioner perspectives in collegiate mental health and sport psychology
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
Amid burgeoning literature on the mental health and performance needs of student-athletes, research on practitioner perspectives has been rare (cf. Schlimmer & Chin, 2018), and particularly so at institutions without sport psychology services (Rancourt et al., 2020). As such, a mixed-method survey was distributed to collegiate sport psychology practitioners (clinical and applied, n = 130, 25.1% response) and to counseling center staff from institutions without sport psychology services (n = 334, 15.8% response). When offered, 65.8% of practitioners from DI institutions and 53.5% of practitioners from DII/DIII institutions indicated that clinical sport psychology services were stretched or exceeded by demand. Again, when offered, more practitioners from DI institutions (50.9%) saw applied services as stretched or exceeded by demand compared those from DII/DIII institutions (26.7%). Many advocated for sport psychology services when they were not available, but qualitative data also conveyed considerable hesitancy (e.g., scope of practice with limited resources, sequestering athletes from broader services). Overall, 64.1% of participants wanted more emotional support for stressors encountered as practitioners. Current events (“[we’re] dealing with the same issues as everyone else during COVID-19”) and the demand for services (“I have seen an overwhelming increase in the risk/acuity of student-athletes’ presenting issues”) may have contributed. Half of the sample would have liked more peer consultation for their work with student-athletes, and in some instances, practitioners commented that better cross-campus communication could have helped. Practitioners reported a critical need for more staff, more diverse staff (“[Counseling services] at my university is short-staffed in general and short-staffed in having Black identified therapists available…”), and more multidisciplinary staff (“our psychiatry budget was eliminated”). In light of noteworthy barriers to change, discussion will address potential contributions that scholar-practitioners, administrators, and organizations can make to better support practitioners in collegiate mental health/sport psychology, and ultimately, the clientele they serve.
