An evaluation of prevention initiatives by 53 national anti-doping organizations: Achievements and limitations (original) (raw)
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National doping prevention guidelines: Intent, efficacy and lessons learned - A 4-year evaluation
Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, 2016
Background: Doping presents a potential health risk for young athletes. Prevention programs are intended to prevent doping by educating athletes about banned substances. However, such programs have their limitations in practice. This led Germany to introduce the National Doping Prevention Plan (NDPP), in hopes of ameliorating the situation among young elite athletes. Two studies examined 1) the degree to which the NDPP led to improved prevention efforts in elite sport schools, and 2) the extent to which newly developed prevention activities of the national anti-doping agency (NADA) based on the NDPP have improved knowledge among young athletes within elite sports schools. Methods: The first objective was investigated in a longitudinal study (Study I: t0 = baseline, t1 = follow-up 4 years after NDPP introduction) with N = 22 teachers engaged in doping prevention in elite sports schools. The second objective was evaluated in a cross-sectional comparison study (Study II) in N = 213 elite sports school students (54. 5 % male, 45.5 % female, age M = 16.7 ± 1.3 years (all students had received the improved NDDP measure in school; one student group had received additionally NADA anti-doping activities and a control group did not). Descriptive statistics were calculated, followed by McNemar tests, Wilcoxon tests and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Results: Results indicate that 4 years after the introduction of the NDPP there have been limited structural changes with regard to the frequency, type, and scope of doping prevention in elite sport schools. On the other hand, in study II, elite sport school students who received further NADA anti-doping activities performed better on an antidoping knowledge test than students who did not take part (F(1, 207) = 33.99, p <0.001), although this difference was small. Conclusion: The integration of doping-prevention in elite sport schools as part of the NDPP was only partially successful. The results of the evaluation indicate that the introduction of the NDPP has contributed more to a change in the content of doping prevention activities than to a structural transformation in anti-doping education in elite sport schools. Moreover, while students who did receive additional education in the form of the NDPP"booster sessions" had significantly more knowledge about doping than students who did not receive such education, this difference was only small and may not translate to actual behavior.
Frontiers in Sports and Active Living
Doping has serious negative consequences for athletes and the integrity of sports, implying the need for effective prevention programs. Since educating young athletes about doping-related knowledge is deemed to be not sufficiently effective to minimize doping, a focus on values, emotions and morality is seen as a promising approach and previous research indicates which variables exactly could be addressed in anti-doping efforts. These variables are anticipated guilt, empathy, moral disengagement, and collective moral norms, since these constructs have been strongly and consistently linked to doping intention, likelihood, or behavior. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop a values-based anti-doping intervention, which targets the aforementioned variables, and to evaluate its effectiveness in producing changes in outcomes in comparison to an information-based intervention and a waiting control group. To evaluate their effectiveness, both interventions, which each consist...
National doping prevention guidelines : Intent, efficacy and lessons learned
2016
Background: Doping presents a potential health risk for young athletes. Prevention programs are intended to prevent doping by educating athletes about banned substances. However, such programs have their limitations in practice. This led Germany to introduce the National Doping Prevention Plan (NDPP), in hopes of ameliorating the situation among young elite athletes. Two studies examined 1) the degree to which the NDPP led to improved prevention efforts in elite sport schools, and 2) the extent to which newly developed prevention activities of the national anti-doping agency (NADA) based on the NDPP have improved knowledge among young athletes within elite sports schools. Methods: The first objective was investigated in a longitudinal study (Study I: t0 = baseline, t1 = follow-up 4 years after NDPP introduction) with N = 22 teachers engaged in doping prevention in elite sports schools. The second objective was evaluated in a cross-sectional comparison study (Study II) in N = 213 elite sports school students (54. 5 % male, 45.5 % female, age M = 16.7 ± 1.3 years (all students had received the improved NDDP measure in school; one student group had received additionally NADA anti-doping activities and a control group did not). Descriptive statistics were calculated, followed by McNemar tests, Wilcoxon tests and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Results: Results indicate that 4 years after the introduction of the NDPP there have been limited structural changes with regard to the frequency, type, and scope of doping prevention in elite sport schools. On the other hand, in study II, elite sport school students who received further NADA anti-doping activities performed better on an antidoping knowledge test than students who did not take part (F(1, 207) = 33.99, p <0.001), although this difference was small. Conclusion: The integration of doping-prevention in elite sport schools as part of the NDPP was only partially successful. The results of the evaluation indicate that the introduction of the NDPP has contributed more to a change in the content of doping prevention activities than to a structural transformation in anti-doping education in elite sport schools. Moreover, while students who did receive additional education in the form of the NDPP"booster sessions" had significantly more knowledge about doping than students who did not receive such education, this difference was only small and may not translate to actual behavior.
Effectiveness of a school-based doping prevention programme in Spanish adolescents
Journal of Human Sport and Exercise
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, Eta 2 =.03) and specifically for the factors Concept (p<.001, Eta 2 =.004), Utility (p<.01, Eta 2 =.02) and Sport and doping (p<.01, Eta 2 =.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.
The use of substances to improve sports performance is a widespread phenomenon among adolescents. Several anti-doping programs have been developed, mainly based on knowledge-based evidence. The main aim of the present study was to implement an anti-doping intervention in sports high school students, based on psychological framework, such as Socio-Cognitive Theory, through the development of a Serious Game (SG), i.e., a digital learning based on the game. The experimental design included an intervention group (n=167; F=37.7%; Meanage=17.5 years) and a control group (n=112; F=42%; Meanage=17.6). Both of groups completed the same questionnaire in two different occasions (i.e., time 1 and time 2), for measuring doping intention, self-regulatory efficacy to resist social pressure for the use of substances, moral disengagement, and doping knowledge. Data were analyzed through repeated measures of Group X Time ANOVA, demonstrating some degree of efficacy of the intervention, in particular,...
Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 2022
The International Standard for Education (ISE) mandates Code Signatories to plan, deliver, and evaluate anti-doping education. Performance-based evaluation of anti-doping education requires alignment between educational goals, content, and defined outcomes. Based on an existentialist teaching and learning philosophy, we aimed to develop and test an anti-doping impact evaluation tool, to assess the impact of anti-doping education on doping awareness, literacy (DAL), perceived trust, and legitimacy. We propose that the impact of anti-doping education is best captured through assessment of situation-specific (social) cognitive mediators of actions that influence athletes' choices in the context of sport-related goals. In phase one, we aimed to develop and test the Generating Research-based Assessment Data to Evidence the ImpacT of anti-doping education (GRADE IT) evaluation tool that comprised a set of social cognitive components: anti-doping knowledge, DAL, perceived trust, and le...
Achieving the Olympic ideal: Preventing doping in sport
In the 1960s, prohibitionist 'anti-doping' policy was introduced to curtail the use of illicit performance enhancing substances and methods in sport. Since then, anti-doping attention and funding has been directed towards detection-based deterrence activities. However, it is now acknowledged that investment in long-term, values-based education programmes may be more appropriate. Unfortunately, research into prevention and education is in its infancy, with very little indication of best practice. Therefore, in the interim, we must draw from more developed social science research fields. The following commentary highlights the findings of a recent systematic review of factors which, to-date, have been identified as the most successful preventive approaches across four established social domains; bullying, alcohol, tobacco and social drug use. Although the systematic review highlighted no 'magical ingredients' for ensuring effectiveness, there were common 'recipes for success', including (i) targeting young participants -when attitudes and values are forming; (ii) providing interactive material that develops social skills; (iii) monitoring and delivering programmes with high degrees of fidelity; (iv) basing delivery on well-trained staff; (v) incorporating long-term 'booster sessions' to reinforce key messages. Now, research should contribute to an evidence-base that allows the discovery, application and evaluation of key elements of effective anti-doping education.