Attitudes, Behaviours, Knowledge and Education – Drugs in Sport: Past, Present and Future / Susan Backhouse, Jim McKenna, Simon Robinson, Andrew Atkin
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.
The Findings
One hundred and three articles met the inclusion criteria and were considered in this review. Of these, 69 articles considered the attitudes of various target groups, 18 studies sought to examine the precipitating factors and correlates of performance enhancing drug use and 16 articles presented the findings of education intervention studies or model development in relation to doping in sport.
Conclusion
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.
Recommendations
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.
