Effectiveness of a school-based doping prevention programme in Spanish adolescents

The purpose of the study is to assess the effectiveness of a school-based programme to improve knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about doping. 540 adolescents (aged 12-13 years old, 50% boys) took part, from eight Spanish schools. Three hundred and thirteen of these were in the experimental group and the rest formed a control group. Six sessions were held, based on international recommendations, during the Physical Education classes, and were assessed with the Questionnaire on the Anti-doping Intervention programme. The principal results showed that the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about doping improved in the experimental group compared to the control group, for the whole of the questionnaire (p<.001, Eta2=.03) and specifically for the factors Concept (p<.001, Eta2=.004), Utility (p<.01, Eta2=.02) and Sport and doping (p<.01, Eta2=.01). But there were no benefits observed in the factors Methods and Origin of the behaviour. In conclusion, school-based programmes may be useful for improving knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about doping among adolescents

Reporting doping in sport: national level athletes' perceptions of their role in doping prevention.

This paper qualitatively explores national level athletes' willingness to report doping in sport. Following ethical approval, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine national level athletes from rugby league (n = 5) and track and field athletics (n = 4). Thematic analysis established the main themes within the data. Contextual differences existed around the role that athletes perceived they would play if they became aware of doping. Specifically, track and field athletes would adopt the role of a whistle-blower and report individuals who were doping in their sport. In comparison, the rugby league players highlighted a moral dilemma. Despite disagreeing with their teammates' actions, the players would adhere to a code of silence and refrain from reporting doping. Taking these findings into account, prevention programs might focus on changing broader group and community norms around doping. In doing so, community members' receptivity to prevention messages may increase. Moreover, developing skills to intervene (e.g., speaking out against social norms that support doping behavior) or increasing awareness of reporting lines could enhance community responsibility for doping prevention. In sum, the findings highlight the need to consider the context of sport and emphasize that a one-size-fits-all approach to anti-doping is problematic

Debunking the Myth of Pregnancy Doping

The notion that pregnancy and abortion are forms of doping has persisted for 20 years. Popular and scientific literature on pregnancy/abortion doping was critically analyzed to compare pregnancy/abortion doping with definitions of doping and blood doping and to compare pregnancy/abortion doping themes to current scientific knowledge. Main themes included oxygenation advantage and hormonal advantage. During pregnancy, maximal oxygen uptake may improve but not exercise performance. Human chorionic gonadotropin, the only pregnancy hormone on National Collegiate Athletic Association and United States Anti-Doping Agency banned substances lists, increases during pregnancy but there is no evidence that hCG enhances athletic performance in women. Recommendations include revising USADA and NNCAA policies into congruence with World Anti-Doping Agency policies which ban hCG for men only. During the past seven years of advocating for college student-athlete athletic department pregnancy and parenting policies, popular nonscientific literature (websites, blogs, and personal anecdotes) and scientific literature have been examined to detect barriers to student-athlete health and policy change. One barrier is a persistent belief in popular literature that athletes can use pregnancy and/or abortion to enhance competitive performance; i.e., as a form of prohibited blood doping. The scientific and nonscientific resources on pregnancy and abortion doping have considerably diverged over the past 20 years. The purposes of this paper were to examine the biophysical themes in popular and scientific definitions of doping, blood doping, and pregnancy /abortion doping, compare pregnancy/abortion doping to current scientific knowledge, and make recommendations to the stakeholders: student-athletes, coaches, athletic trainers, team physicians, athletic and university administrators, university faculty, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

Capturing doping attitudes by self-report declarations and implicit assessment: a methodology study

BACKGROUND: Understanding athletes' attitudes and behavioural intentions towards performance enhancement is critical to informing anti-doping intervention strategies. Capturing the complexity of these attitudes beyond verbal declarations requires indirect methods. This pilot study was aimed at developing and validating a method to assess implicit doping attitudes using an Implicit Associations Test (IAT) approach. METHODS: The conventional IAT evaluation task (categorising 'good' and 'bad' words) was combined with a novel 'doping' versus 'nutrition supplements' category pair to create a performance-enhancement related IAT protocol (PE-IAT). The difference between average response times to 'good-doping' and 'bad-doping' combinations represents an estimate of implicit attitude towards doping in relation to nutritional supplements. 111 sports and exercise science undergraduates completed the PE-IAT, the Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale (PEAS) and answered questions regarding their beliefs about doping. RESULTS: Longer response times were observed in the mixed category discrimination trials where categories 'good' and 'doping' shared the same response key (compared to 'bad-doping' combination on the same key) indicating a less favourable evaluation of doping substances. The PE-IAT measure did not correlate significantly with the declared doping attitudes (r = .181, p = .142), indicating a predictable partial dissociation. Action-oriented self-report expressed stronger associations with PE-IAT: participants who declared they would consider using doping showed significantly less implicit negativity towards banned substances (U = 109.00, p = .047). Similarly, those who reported more lenient explicit attitudes towards doping or expressly supported legalizing it, showed less implicit negativity towards doping in the sample, although neither observed differences reached statistical significance (t = 1.300, p = .198, and U = 231.00, p = .319, respectively). Known-group validation strategy yielded mixed results: while competitive sport participants scored significantly lower than non-competitive ones on the PEAS (t = -2.71, p = .008), the two groups did not differ on PE-IAT (t = -.093, p = .926). CONCLUSION: The results suggest a potential of the PE-IAT method to capture undeclared attitudes to doping and predict behaviour, which can support targeted anti-doping intervention and related research. The initial evidence of validity is promising but also indicates a need for improvement to the protocol and stimulus material

Using the prototype willingness model to predict doping in sport.

To enable preventive measures to be designed, it is important to identify modifiable distal and proximal factors underlying doping behavior. This study investigated aspects of the prototype willingness model in relation to doping. A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 729 competitive athletes. Following ethical approval, athletes (mean age = 28.8 ± 10.1 years; 63% male) completed an online questionnaire, which assessed doping-related attitudes, norms, prototype perceptions, outcome expectancies, and behavioral willingness. Using hierarchical multiple regression analysis, 54.4% of the total variance in willingness to dope was explained. Specifically, past doping, attitudes, and favorability of performance enhancing substance user prototypes were the strongest unique predictors of willingness to dope. Athletes appeared most willing to dope if they were to suffer an injury, a dip in performance, or think others are doping and getting away with it. National-level athletes displayed significantly greater willingness to dope (Kruskal-Wallis γ2 = 35.9, P < 0.001) and perceived themselves as significantly more similar to a doper (Kruskal-Wallis γ2 = 13.4, P = 0.004) than athletes competing at any other level. The findings highlight the importance of extending anti-doping provision beyond elite-level sport and the need to target athletes' doping-related perceptions

Potentially harmful advantage to athletes: a putative connection between UGT2B17 gene deletion polymorphism and renal disorders with prolonged use of anabolic androgenic steroids

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: With prolonged use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS), occasional incidents of renal disorders have been observed. Independently, it has also been established that there are considerable inter-individual and inter-ethnic differences, in particular with reference to the uridine diphosphate-glucuronosyltransferase 2B17 (UGT2B17) gene, in metabolising these compounds. This report postulates the association of deletion polymorphism in the UGT2B17 gene with the occurrence of renal disorders on chronic exposure to AAS. PRESENTATION OF THE HYPOTHESIS: The major deactivation and elimination pathway of AASs is through glucuronide conjugation, chiefly catalyzed by the UGT2B17 enzyme, followed by excretion in urine. Excretion of steroids is affected in individuals with a deletion mutation in the UGT2B17 gene. We hypothesize that UGT2B17 deficient individuals are more vulnerable to developing renal disorders with prolonged use of AAS owing to increases in body mass index and possible direct toxic effects of steroids on the kidneys. Elevated serum levels of biologically active steroids due to inadequate elimination can lead to prolonged muscle build up. An increase in body mass index may cause renal injuries due to sustained elevated glomerular pressure and flow rate. TESTING THE HYPOTHESIS: In the absence of controlled clinical trials in humans, observational studies can be carried out. Real time PCR with allelic discrimination should be employed to examine the prevalence of different UGT2B17 genotypes in patients with impaired renal function and AAS abuse. In individuals with the UGT2B17 deletion polymorphism, blood tests, biofluid analyses, urinalysis, and hair analyses following the administration of an anabolic steroid can be used to determine the fate of the substance once in the body. IMPLICATIONS OF THE HYPOTHESIS: If the hypothesis is upheld, anabolic steroid users with a deletion mutation in the UGT2B17 gene may be exposed to an increased risk of developing renal disorders. In the current detecting - sanctioning anti-doping system, athletes motivated by the potential to evade detection owing to their unique genetic make-up could subject themselves to a serious health consequence. More research on AAS metabolism in the presence of UGT2B17 gene deletion is required. Benefit - harm evaluations in therapeutic use of anabolic steroids should also consider this potential link between UGT2B17 gene deletion polymorphism and renal disorders