In force
Enhancing coaches’ confidence in confronting athletes who are suspected of doping
Project description
Summary
The current research is focused on measuring and enhancing coaches’ confidence when dealing with athletes whom they suspect of doping. Previous research has noted that, although coaches’ poses adequate knowledge about banned substance, they may lack the confidence to act on this knowledge. The primary focus of the first year of the research was to devise and validate a measure for coaches’ confidence in this context.
Methodology
An exhaustive review of literature on confrontation was conducted. This included research in sport and other domains. A multidimensional model of confrontation (i.e., legitimacy, intimacy, initiation, outcomes, and resources) was chosen as appropriate for this research. The items gleaned from this literature were placed within this theoretical framework to create a 58 item measure of two confidence factors. Over the past year, a further, large scale assessment of the measurement has been conducted. Statistical analysis has resulted in a final 21 item, five-factor model of coaches’ efficacy in confronting suspected dopers. Furthermore, a short (3 hour) coaching workshop was based on this five-factor model of confrontation. Materials include both a coach’s and coach facilitator manual.
Results
The results of this pilot study showed that all coaches showed improvement in all aspects of doping confrontation efficacy, as measured by the Doping Confrontation Efficacy Scale (DCES). It is clear that on average, there is a substantial increase in coaches’ self-perceptions with respect to confronting athlete’s as a result of these materials.
Significance for Clean Sport
These results are encouraging for anti-doping coach interventions as well as for the DCES as a measurement tool. Coaches are key stakeholders and partners in anti-doping and this study may help to design tailor specific anti-doping education tools.
Related publications
The preliminary development and validation of the Doping Confrontation Efficacy Scale