Question

audience, stat, state, call to action

Write an effective problem statement focused on the mental well-being of the student athlete both during and after competing at an NCAA member institution.

Answer 1

A problem statement is a brief description of an issue that needs to be addressed or improved upon. To be effective at writing it, you must be at your inquisitive best, i.e. keep questioning until you've made sense of the issue at hand.

For the given query, our questions will be-

1. What's the issue that needs to be resolved?
   • The prevalence of mental issues - depression, anxiety, eating disorders, stress of sports commitments, worry on results, performance and public image etc. among student athletes during and after competing at NCAA institutions.
2. Why is it an issue?
   • Mental problems are detrimental to long-term physical health. Eating disorders are common causes of osteoporosis & heart issues. Anorexia and bulimia may be fatal. There may be an elevation in the incidence of suicide.
3. Where is the problem most seen and who's most affected by it?
   • Prevalence exists among both male and female athletes participating in the NCAA tournaments. However, research has proven that females are twice as likely as males to develop anxiety, depression and eating-disorders. Affected parties include the athletes, their families, the participating institutions (coaches, team mates etc.), potential recruits, NCAA etc.
4. What's the root cause?
   • Athletes shy from admitting that there's a problem (due to social stigma) untill it's too late.
5. What are the statistics like?
   • 10-15% of the athletes have psychological problems that are severe enough to warrant counselling
   • There are huge gaps in the reported levels of depression, Anorexia and Bulimia among female athletes and non-athletes (higher in athletes of course)
6. What are the symptoms?
   • excessive body pain
   • sleeping problems
   • prolonged periods of injury
   • not eating well or at all
   • rapid weight loss or gain
   • mood swings
   • unexplainable under-performance in sport and studies
   • apathy and social isolation etc.
7. What to do?
   • Action and reasonable dialogue to eliminate the stigma associated with mental health
   • student athletes need to take better care of themselves and also take advantage of the support services available on campus
   • NCAA needs to take more responsibility in governing the status of mental health at member institutions. Efforts should be made towards raising awareness and offering tangible resources to students-athletes for psychological care.

Our problem statement-

Mental-health is a serious concern among student-athletes performing under the NCAA banner. Lack of timely identification of the signs of depression, anxiety and eating/sleeping disorders may prove detrimental in terms of long-term well-being, or even fatal as too much stress may lead to unnatural deaths or suicides. Female athletes are more likely to be mentally depressed than male athletes, as per research. The root cause is that athletes shy from coming forth with mental illnesses for the fear of being ridiculed as weak or crazy. They must realize that health is wealth and that by ignoring or suppressing their need for psychological care they aren't just jeopardising themselves but also their families and supporters/sponsors who depend on them. The NCAA must take more responsibility in raising awareness and arranging frequent psychological screenings at member institutions.