SMHAT-1 A practitioners guide to using this tool on the AMS
SMHAT-1. The International Olympic Committee Sport Mental Health Assessment Tool 1
What is the SMHAT-1
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Sport Mental Health Assessment Tool 1 (SMHAT-1) is a standardized assessment tool aiming to identify at an early stage elite athletes (defined as professional, Olympic, Paralympic and collegiate level; 16 and older) potentially at risk for or already experiencing mental health symptoms and disorders, in order to facilitate timely referral of those in need to adequate support and/or treatment.
Who should use the SMHAT-1
The SMHAT-1 can be used by sports medicine physicians and other licensed/registered health professionals, but the clinical assessment (and related management) within the SMHAT-1 (see step 3b) should be conducted by sports medicine physicians and/or licensed/registered mental health professionals. If you are not a sports medicine physician or other licensed/ registered health professional, please use the IOC Sport Mental Health Recognition Tool 1 (SMHRT-1). Physical therapists or athletic trainers working with a sports medicine physician can use the SMHAT-1 but any guidance or intervention should remain the responsibility of their sports medicine physician.
Why use the SMHAT-1
Mental health symptoms and disorders are prevalent among active and former elite athletes. Mental health disorders are typically defined as conditions causing clinically significant distress or impairment that meet certain diagnostic criteria, such as in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition (DSM-5) or the International Classification of Diseases 10th revision (ICD-10), whereas mental health symptoms are self-reported, may be significant but do not occur in a pattern meeting specific diagnostic criteria and do not necessarily cause significant distress or functional impairment.
When to use the SMHAT-1
The SMHAT-1 should be ideally embedded within the pre-competition period (i.e., a few weeks after the start of sport training), as well as within the mid- and end-season period. The SMHAT-1 should also ideally be used when any significant event for athletes occurs such as injury, illness, surgery, unexplained performance concern, after a major competition, end of competitive cycle, suspected harassment/abuse, adverse life event and transitioning out of sport.
How to use the SMHAT-1 within the AMS
The SMHAT-1 form exists within the AMS.
Workflow:
The form has been designed to enable practitioners and athletes to interact within the form in a direct and flexible manner. The following video shows how the process will function using the steps:
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Practitioner selects which SMHAT-1 version they want their athlete(s) to initially complete; (a) The Triage form and Screening Sections 1-6 only if the triage score flags the need, or (b) The Triage form and Screening Sections 1-6 irrespective of the triage score. This sends an email to the athlete with a link to complete the form.
- IMPORTANT UPDATE TO BELOW VIDEO: When option (a) is chosen (Only the Triage form is requested to be completed by an athlete), should an athlete score below 17 there will be no capacity of the practitioner to request completion of sections 7-11 and they will only be presented with the capacity to sign off the form.
- Athlete completes the form and upon saving their data an email is sent to the practitioner notifying them of data to view.
- Practitioner determines if any of sections 7-11 are necessary to be completed by the athlete and, if so, an email is sent to the athlete with a link to complete the additional questions.
- Athlete completes the additional questions and upon saving their data an email is sent to the practitioner notifying them of data to view.
- Practitioner signs off that the completed screening tool has been reviewed.
Form access:
Due to the sensitive nature of the data being collected, access to the form for athletes needs to be requested by NIN practitioners to their NIN builder or NSO practitioners to the AMS team (ams@ausport.gov.au). When seeking access, practitioners must provide the following details:
- Athlete names or the Group name
- Date for access to be provided and a second date for when access is to be revoked (revoking access does not delete data or remove access from the practitioner and can easily be turned back on if an athlete fails to complete the data entry by shut off date).
- Practitioners who need access to the athlete / group (this is to confirm all practitioners have correct athlete access).
Performance Alert Set-Up:
For the workflow to operate effectively and efficiently, a specific performance alert set up is necessary. These are set up on all sites across the NSO and NIN environment, so practitioners seeking SMHAT-1 access also need to provide the following table details:
| Alert Name | Monitored Account | Monitored Group | Recipient |
| SMHAT-1 Practitioner Data Request Flag | Athlete(s) | Group(s) | Athlete(s) |
| SMHAT-1 Athlete Entered Data Flag | Athlete(s) | Group(s) | Practitioner(s) |
| SMHAT-1 Practitioner Additional Data Request Flag | Athlete(s) | Group(s) | Athlete(s) |
| SMHAT-1 Athlete Entered Additional Data Flag | Athlete(s) | Group(s) | Practitioner(s) |
| SMHAT-1 Athlete CRITICAL Alert | Athlete(s) | Group(s) | Practitioner(s) |
Dashboard View
Data can be viewed and interacted with via the Dashboard: "SMHAT-1 Dashboard".
Monitoring expectations
Given the sensitivity of the form, whilst email alerts have been set up to notify practitioners of data that has been entered, we strongly advise practitioners to complete regular checks of their AMS account.