Mental Health Assessment – Sports Physicals (APRN)

00:01 Now, the fifth and final area of the sports physical is the mental health assessment.

00:08 Now this may be an area that you feel very comfortable, or you may not feel comfortable.

00:12 But either way, I know that you can perform a thorough and adequate assessment.

00:17 So you're going to think about key assessment cues for mental health.

00:21 Because mental health is an important part of being evaluated for clearance to participate in sports.

00:27 This is essential to keeping this athlete safe and the other athletes that they're playing with safe.

00:33 Now, it is a very sad statistic that elite athletes have a 51.7% lifetime prevalence of mental health problems.

00:42 So and the symptoms can start to appear or manifest at a young age.

00:46 That's why you are so important in this role.

00:50 So you want to be thoughtful about your assessment? You want the student athlete to feel safe? You may need to consider if the athlete needs to speak in front of the parent, or if the parent could not be in the environment, And you can ask some questions.

01:05 You'll be able to tell that through your first kind of assessment of their mental health.

01:09 So again, it's really important to adjust your questions based on the athletes age and their developmental stage.

01:16 And make referrals to qualified mental health professionals.

01:20 And there's options that are available in schools if the family does not have the resources to pay for that on their own.

01:28 There's lots of resources in the community while they're in the school system.

01:33 So if you have a concern, or an issue, or risk, and you've identified it, please be sure to make that referral.

01:40 Let's talk about some kind of non-threatening questions that you could ask about mental health.

01:46 Tell me about your sleep.

01:47 Do you have a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep? Can you give me an example of something you are proud of yourself for? We're trying to look at the self-esteem there.

01:56 And how they're feeling about themselves? Do you feel that you are as valuable as other people? Now, I know that some of these questions are yes and no.

02:05 And you are welcome to adapt these.

02:08 But I would start this kind of discussion with them and say, "I'm going to ask you some questions that may seem kind of odd.

02:14 But I just want to check in and see how you're feeling, and how you're doing with in your activity." So I would ask these questions in that manner with that type of intro.

02:26 Have you noticed that you have less energy than you used to? That could be an indication of depression.

02:30 Do you enjoy sports as much as you used to? Again, could be an indication of depression.

02:36 Do you find it easy to concentrate or is that difficult for you? Might indicate ADHD.

02:42 Would also ask them where you've done the screening if they're on.

02:46 You'll know if they're on any ADHD medications.

02:50 Now the next one leads into grief, which might also be a challenge.

02:54 It's kind of an easy way I find to go into the questions about suicide.

02:58 Not that death is easy for anyone but just say, "Have you lost anyone important to you lately?" Now, that could be a relationship that's ended.

03:06 That could be a death or a loss? Then I would ask them, Have you lost anyone to suicide or know someone who has attempted suicide?" We had a student here, actually, in my city that committed suicide at a football game.

03:23 Jumped off from the top, very,very top of some high bleachers.

03:27 And of course, the athletes around them, the students were all affected by that event.

03:34 The last one is, "Have you ever thought of harming yourself?" If you build up to that question, it doesn't come off as so weird.

03:42 It's just randomly in a sports physical say, "Have you ever thought of harming yourself?" And you know, the follow up question is always, "Have you ever thought about a plan to do that?" So those are some examples of questions that you can use assessment cues for assessing their mental health.

04:00 So that wraps up the key components of a sports physical in your role as a nurse practitioner.

04:07 Remember, we've talked about the five main components of a sports physical.

04:12 The medical and family history.

04:14 The physical exam, which had five parts of its own.

04:17 The nutritional assessment.

04:19 Heat and Hydration Related Risk Factors, And the mental health assessment.

04:23 Be sure that you are allowed the time and environment that is appropriate for doing these types of assessments, and that you are not having to rush any assessment.

04:34 Because you're critically important to the health and safety of all the athletes that you examine.

04:41 Thanks for listening today.

04:42 I hope you'll join us for another part of our series.