Maintenance. Former professional footballer, Vincent Gouttebarge is the head of the medical service of the International Federation of Professional Football Associations (Fifpro), and chairs the working group on mental health of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Set up in 2019, the latter is now made up of eleven members from several continents, who meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, two to three times a year.
What are the missions of your working group?
The idea is to develop new tools for athletes and coaches: workshops, but also new scientific knowledge. In high-level sport, athletes are subject to a medical examination at the start of each season to detect possible cardiovascular pathologies, musculoskeletal problems, but, until now, there was nothing systematic at the level of mental health. We realized that there was no instrument created specifically. One of the first missions was to remedy this, with the SMHAT, Sport Mental Health Assessment Tool.
What is this tool?
It is a three-step instrument. The first, triage, assesses whether the athlete has psychological distress issues. In case of high level, step 2, more advanced, aims to identify mental health disorders related to the following symptoms: anxiety, depression, sleep problems, worries related to alcohol, or other substances and/or food. Depending on the results, we go to step 3: either mindfulness-type support, or a traditional clinical examination, with a sports doctor, a clinical psychologist or a psychiatrist.
To date, what is its application?
We have described the principles of this tool in The British Journal of Sport Medicine and since then we have been trying to put it into practice in high-level sport. The Rugby Football Union, the English rugby federation, is the first to use it since the 2021-2022 season systematically in professional rugby. We are also trying to get football clubs to use it.
We have also developed two educational modules for medical staff: a certificate intended more for non-medical staff, such as physiotherapists, and a medical degree in mental health, the training of which lasts at least one year, intended for doctors. The idea is that a doctor in charge of a rugby or basketball club, for example, has the tools to systematically “monitor” his high-level athletes from the point of view of psychological disorders.
You have 49.57% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
