The Effectiveness of the Play Clean Group Based and the Mobile Applications (iPlayClean) Anti-Doping Education Programs for Adolescent Athletes and their Entourage: A Randomized Control Trial

Project Description

This program of research will examine the effectiveness of the group based and website anti-doping education programs for high-level adolescent athletes and their entourage (i.e., coaches and parents). David Howman, the WADA director general, recently stated that “the area of most concern for us is young athletes who have not broken through into the elite who are trying to get that breakthrough and are susceptible to taking drugs because that's a shortcut" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/ programmes/n3csy4rh). It is during adolescence that that attitudes are formed (Backhouse et al., 2012) and a period when athletes are at risk of doping (Schirlin et al., 2012). As such, adolescence represents a key time to expose athletes to anti-doping education programs. A recent meta-analysis revealed only four published randomized control trials (RCTs) among adolescent athletes (Ntoumanis et al., 2014). The aforementioned RCTs tested two programs: (1) Athletes Training Learning and to Avoid Steroids (ATLAS; Goldberg et al., 1996, 2000, 2005) and (2) Athletes Targeting Healthy Exercise and Nutrition Alternatives (ATHENA; Goldberg et al., 2005; Elliot et al., 2008). Ntoumanis et al.'s (2014) meta-analysis revealed a small, but significant effect of the ATLAS/ATHENA programs on doping intentions, but no impact on doping behavior. Ntoumanis et al. (2014) suggested the ATLAS/ ATHENA's limited effect on doping behavior was because they did not exclusively focus on anti-doping . As such, there is need for specific anti-doping programs.

Participants will be randomly assigned into one of four conditions: Group 1: Play Clean face-to-face group sessions, Group 2: iPlayClean website only, or Group 3 face-to-face group sessions and website, or Group 4: the control group. The aim of the Play Clean face-to-face group sessions and iPlayClean website are to reduce positive attitudes towards doping, susceptibility, intentions, and doping behaviors among adolescent athletes. Athletes will complete the Adoscelcent Sport Doping Inventory (Nicholls et al., 2019) tat Time 1 (Baseline), Time 2 (when the experimental groups have completed Play Clean programs), and T3 (12 months after the completion of the programs). The changes in all continuous outcome variables over time (T1, T2, T3), and whether the amount of any change over time is different between Groups 1, 2, or 3 will be investigated with latent true change modeling (Steyer et al., 1997). It is hypothesized that there will be a reduction in positive attitudes to doping, intentions, susceptibility, and doping behavior among the athletes in Group 1, Group 2, and Group 3 from T1 to T2, which will be sustained in T3. It also hypothesised that there will be no differences at T2 and T3 between athletes in Group 1 and Group 2, and that the control group athletes will not experience any changes at T1, T2, or T3 in the outcome variables.