Preparedness, Confidence, and Best Practices in Preventing, Recognizing, Managing Mental Health Cases in NCAA Institutions.

Context: Currently, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recommends written policies and procedures that outline steps to support student athletes facing a mental health challenge and the referral processes for emergency and non-emergency mental health situations.

Objective: To assess the mental health policies and procedures implemented and athletic trainers' perceived confidence in preventing, recognizing and managing routine and crisis mental health cases across all three divisions of NCAA athletics.

Design: Cross-sectional survey design and chart review.