Attitude of athletes towards doping: A dilemma in Pakistan

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the attitude and of athletes towards performance enhancement through doping and leading reason of their decision for the use of doping in a country. METHODS: This Cross-Sectional descriptive study was conducted with non-probability convenience sampling over a period of six months from November 2018 to May 2019. This study included n=377 National and international athletes/players, of both genders aged 17-35 years, camping for preparation of 13(th) South Asian Games 2019 at Pakistan Sports Board, Jinnah Complex Islamabad, Pakistan. The athletes/ players with any disease, trauma or working as coaches or officials were excluded. Basic demographic sheet and Athletes Attitude to Doping Questionnaire were used for data collection which was analyzed using SPSS 21. RESULTS: Study revealed significant difference in the Mean and Median scores of the six anti-doping factors with very low scores for “Long Term Health Implications” (Mean= 2.14, Md=2) and “Psychosocial Influences” (Mean=3, Md=3) compared to a high score for the remaining factors, indicating that the participants did not agree these two factors influenced their decision for not doping. Also, there was significant difference in the scores as revealed by Wilcoxon signed test, between Personal Ethical Standards and the remaining factors except Illegality of Substances (z=-1.705, p=0.088). Gender association was noted for anti-doping education and testing, with higher scores in males (p=0.031). Also Type of Main Sport had association with most factors except Long Term Health Implications while Level of Sport did not show any association except for Influence of Significant Others. CONCLUSION: Study concludes that Illegality of Substances and Personal ethical standards are the most significant factor for athletes’ decision for not doping.