International literature review: Attitudes, behaviours, knowledge and education – drugs in sport: Past, present and future

Summary

This review is the result of WADA’s identification of education and social science research as strategic priorities for developing evidence-based anti-doping education programs and interventions. Based upon the need identified by WADA, the review provides an extensive annotated bibliography of peer reviewed publications in the social sciences regarding (a) predictors and precipitating factors in doping; (b) attitudes and behaviours towards doping and (c) anti-doping education or prevention programs. The database created during this review should be maintained so that future research in this area can be centrally documented and recorded.

Methodology

The review was conducted in line with guidelines devised by the UK National Health Service Centre for Reviews and Dissemination. An extensive search of the literature was conducted using electronic resources, including, but not limited to, PubMed, Ingenta, Academic Search Elite and ZETOC. The search strategy employed keywords for drug use in sport: ‘doping’, ‘performance-enhancing drugs’ and ‘drugs AND sport’ combined with selected terms relating to specific areas of interest: i) ‘attitudes’, ‘beliefs’, ‘knowledge’, ‘perspectives’, ‘opinions’. ii) ‘correlates’, ‘determinants’, ‘risk factors’, ‘precipitating factors’. iii) ‘education’, ‘intervention’, ‘model’, ‘prevention’. The review was limited to peer-reviewed articles written in the English language and published from 1st January 1990 to 1st December 2006.

Results

The evidence presented in this review leads to a simple conclusion: the weak evidence base undermines strategic planning and limits the capacity to target appropriate and efficacious education programmes to abate doping in sport.

Significance for Clean Sport

This review has highlighted a number of key priorities in the social science research field. For example, adopting a Behavioural Epidemiological Framework would direct research efforts. Employing a variety of research designs from the upper echelons of the evidence hierarchy would facilitate the examination of causality and developing psychometrically sound measurement tools would enhance the validity and reliability of findings. Finally, the collaborative networks between practitioner and researcher need to be established so that evidence based findings inform the strategic planning of interventions and enable effective monitoring and evaluation.

Related Publications:

• Reviewing research into attitudes towards doping in sport: Time to take stock
• Doping in sport: A review of medical practitioners’ knowledge, attitudes and beliefs
• Reviewing Coaches' Knowledge, Attitudes and Beliefs regarding Doping in Sport