Psychological and Psychometric Testing

Psychological and psychometric tests in sport are standardised questionnaires and assessments that measure symptoms, readiness or traits, and a score is a prompt for a conversation rather than an answer in itself.

Many are self-completed by the athlete, which is appropriate; what matters is that the purpose, administration, interpretation and response pathway are right. A screening instrument indicates that further assessment is warranted. It does not make a diagnosis, and a score below a threshold does not mean an athlete is well.

In sport and exercise medicine (SEM) these tools are used mainly to:

• •Detect mental health symptoms early in a population that under-reports them
• •Assess psychological readiness for return to sport
• •Support clinical decisions