The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) has launched a new tool to help National Sporting Organisations measure and enhance their approach to athlete and staff wellbeing.
Chief Executive of the AIS, Peter Conde said the AIS Wellbeing Health Check provided a standardised resource to assess the wellbeing cultures of national high performance sport programs, including how well athletes and staff felt supported mentally, physically and emotionally.
“The AIS Wellbeing Health Check takes a 360-degree view of wellbeing in high performance sport programs,” Mr Conde said.
“All athletes, coaches and staff will receive a confidential survey, while National Sporting Organisations will also complete a self-assessment report,” he said.
“There are six key themes: Mental health; cultural values; injury prevention and management; selection and non-selection; conduct and behavioural standards; equality and inclusion.”
Mr Conde said National Sporting Organisations funded by the AIS would complete the Wellbeing Health Check twice every four-year Games cycle.
The Chief Executive said the program would commence for some sports this month, but most would take part after the Tokyo Olympic Games.
“Participating in this survey is really important,” he said.
“To continually improve wellbeing in high performance sport programs, we need athletes, coaches and staff to be able to share their insights and experiences in a confidential and independent way.”
Mr Conde said the AIS would offer support if it was found to be necessary by the Wellbeing Health Check and information on where sports were performing well would be used to inform the development of wellbeing services and strategies across the country.
He said individual responses would be protected and overall results would only be shared with sports in summary form.
