An alternative approach to understanding doping behavior: A pilot study applying the Q-method to doping research

Gatterer, Katharina; Niedermeier, Martin; Streicher, Bernhard; Schobersberger, Wolfgang; Blank, Cornelia

doi:10.1016/j.peh.2018.12.001

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…This is also in line with the meta-analysis on personal and psychosocial predictors of doping use by Ntoumanis et al (2014). This outcome points to the same direction as the results from a Q-sort study (Gatterer et al, 2019), where internal factors such as attitudes (9/10 items used form PEAS), goal orientation and sportspersonship together were weaker predictors of doping behavior compared to external factors. One possible explanation for this is that reasons and not global motives (attitudes, social norms) impact behavior intention and actual behavior (Westaby, 2005;Petróczi et al, 2017) Reasons, operationally defined as "subjective factors people use to explain their anticipated behavior" (Westaby, 2005 p100), are important ingredient of decision making.…”

Section: Relationship Between Admitted Doping Use and Peassupporting

confidence: 86%

The performance enhancement attitude scale (PEAS) reached ‘adulthood’: Lessons and recommendations from a systematic review and meta-analysis

Folkerts

Loh

Petróczi

et al. 2021

Psychology of Sport and Exercise

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Doping is an omnipresent issue in both professional and amateur sports. Advances in social science research, including studies on doping attitude, have played a pivotal role in developing an understanding that prohibition and testing alone do not deter athletes from doping. Research on doping attitude has relied heavily on the Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale (PEAS). Yet, to date, no systematic review and meta-analysis of the PEAS have been conducted. Thus, the purpose of this study is, for the first time, to cumulate evidence for the psychometric properties of PEAS; specifically to conduct a qualitative synthesis and perform a meta-analysis to analyze the available results and findings for internal consistency reliability, gender differences and user/non-user differences in doping attitude assessed by the PEAS. PRISMA protocol was employed for data identification and selection. Included articles were assessed for data quality and biases. Meta-analysis with random effects models was used to determine overall internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha) and descriptive statistics (Mean, SD) for a subset of studies using the full 17-item PEAS. Eighty-two studies were eligible for qualitative synthesis, and a subsample of 42 studies were meta-analyzed. The quantitative analyses yield an overall PEAS score of 39.18 (2.30 on a 6-point scale) and Cronbach's alpha of .85. Males and admitted doping users scored higher on PEAS then females and non-users, but still within the 'negative' spectrum. Medium to strong correlations were recorded with moral disengagement (r = .42-.75). The meta-analysis showed good level of internal consistency reliability for the PEAS. Overall, negative doping attitude characterized the athlete population, regardless of gender or involvement in doping. The latter, coupled with sole reliance on self-reports for doping, questions the validity of PEAS as proxy for indexing doping behavior. Future research will benefit from a standardized short version of PEAS. The evident moral angle of the PEAS limits the scale's utility as a global attitude measure and warrants recalibration of the scale as a measure of moral doping attitude. Advances in doping behavior research calls for a more nuanced understanding of the role of attitudes toward doping and clean sport behavior; new and more specific attitude measures toward doping that separate moral and functional aspects effectively, along with a psychometrically sound instrument for adolescents.

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Section: Relationship Between Admitted Doping Use and Peassupporting

confidence: 86%

The performance enhancement attitude scale (PEAS) reached ‘adulthood’: Lessons and recommendations from a systematic review and meta-analysis

Folkerts

Loh

Petróczi

et al. 2021

Psychology of Sport and Exercise

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“…Those five experts (present in Hall in Tyrol in 2017) continued to be involved throughout 2019, and four of these experts (co-authors of this paper) participated in the last expert meeting in 2020 (for details, refer to Figure 3 ). Regarding motives to dope or not dope, the expert panel agreed (based on scientific evidence) that athletes are likely to dope for functional reasons (i.e., coping with specific pressures), whereas motives not to dope are value-based (social, cultural, attitude, and norms; Gatterer et al, 2019 ). As it cannot be assumed that most athletes dope (especially at the age of 14–19 years), both motives to dope and refrain therefrom should be considered, even though they are not explicitly distinguished within GRADE IT.…”

Section: Results Of Phase One—tool Development and Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From the perspective of content, research suggests that variables identified as risk factors (Ntoumanis et al, 2014 ; Blank et al, 2016 ) are in fact a mixture of risk factors for doping (Petróczi et al, 2017 ; Gatterer et al, 2019 ) and protective factors against doping (Overbye et al, 2013 ; Erickson et al, 2015 ; Englar-Carlson et al, 2016 ). This is problematic, as it has been argued that reasons to dope (risk factors) and reasons not to dope (protective factors) pertain to two distinct goals and thus cannot be considered as the opposite of each other (Overbye et al, 2013 ; Petróczi et al, 2017 , 2021a ; Gatterer et al, 2019 ). This problem was also highlighted by a recent synthesis of qualitative research on barriers to, and factors promoting, clean sport (Williams et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The authors of the review outlined the importance of knowledge as both an “enabler” and barrier to doping, and highlighted the lack of understanding of the complexity of motivation, which involves both physical and psychological capabilities. It was further argued that motives to dope were mostly associated with functional reasons, such as the pressure to win, fear of losing sponsors, and preventing a loss in performance when injured (Whitaker et al, 2017 ; Gatterer et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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GRADE IT—A Literacy-Based Assessment Tool for Generating Research-Based Assessment Data to Evidence the ImpacT of Anti-doping Education via Athletes' Capability to Make the Right Decision

Blank¹,

Gatterer²,

Overbye³

et al. 2022

Front. Sports Act. Living

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The International Standard for Education (ISE) mandates Code Signatories to plan, deliver, and evaluate anti-doping education. Performance-based evaluation of anti-doping education requires alignment between educational goals, content, and defined outcomes. Based on an existentialist teaching and learning philosophy, we aimed to develop and test an anti-doping impact evaluation tool, to assess the impact of anti-doping education on doping awareness, literacy (DAL), perceived trust, and legitimacy. We propose that the impact of anti-doping education is best captured through assessment of situation-specific (social) cognitive mediators of actions that influence athletes' choices in the context of sport-related goals. In phase one, we aimed to develop and test the Generating Research-based Assessment Data to Evidence the ImpacT of anti-doping education (GRADE IT) evaluation tool that comprised a set of social cognitive components: anti-doping knowledge, DAL, perceived trust, and legitimacy of anti-doping (organizations). In phase two we assessed whether anti-doping education impacts knowledge, the three DAL stages (functional, interactive, and critical literacy), perceived trust and legitimacy. Phase one enrolled 986 junior elite athletes, and we showed that all GRADE IT components performed well. After revision of the tool for phase two, we validated the assumption that anti-doping education impacts the likelihood that athletes will make the “right” choice (based on a new set of data from 1,255 junior elite athletes). Comprehensive education was associated with higher scores for all stages of DAL, as well as perceived trust and legitimacy. Even athletes reporting no education had positive scores for all included outcomes, supporting the assumption that most athletes wish to engage in clean sport behaviors and might need anti-doping education not to prevent them from doping, but rather to reinforce their commitment to clean sport. In conclusion, GRADE IT, which is available in 23 languages, is a suitable tool for application to young, emerging athletes to satisfy the ISE requirement for evaluating anti-doping education programs. Researchers and practitioners alike are advised to collect additional data to further validate the tool for adult athletes, and to apply it longitudinally to identify if changes in doping prevention policies have a delayed effect on DAL, perceived trust, and legitimacy.

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“…The results from subsequent studies are hard to synthesize. Reasons identified as deterrence for doping were generally linked to personal factors such as (moral) attitudes, goal orientation, sportspersonship, identity outside sport, self-control, resilience to social group pressures and religion (e.g., Erickson et al, 2014;Gatterer et al, 2019;Zvan et al, 2017).…”

Section: Clean Is a Value That Protects Against Dopingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding and building clean(er) sport together: Community-based participatory research with elite athletes and anti-doping organisations from five European countries

Petróczi

Heyes

Thrower

et al. 2021

Psychology of Sport and Exercise

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Background:In sport the narrative is changing from anti-doping to pro-clean sport. Yet, our understanding of what 'clean sport' means to athletes is notably absent from the literature.Objectives: Working together with elite athletes and National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs), this study explored the meaning and importance of 'clean sport' and 'clean athlete identity'. Design: Community-based participatory research design was employed to explore (a) how elite athletes define clean sport and being a clean athlete; (b) the hopes and challenges associated with clean sport and being a clean athlete; and (c) what can be done in anti-doping to elicit clean sport.Methods: Five elite athletes in five European countries (Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Slovenia and United Kingdom) were recruited as co-researchers by their respective NADOs, trained for their role as co-researchers and individually interviewed. Seventy-seven elite athletes were then purposefully recruited for 12 athlete-led national focus groups. Finally, the five athlete coresearchers and five athlete participants took part in one 2.5-hour long international focus group. Results: Reflexive thematic analysis resulted in generating four overarching themes: 'clean is being true to the self', 'clean performance enhancement has multiple meanings', 'clean is not a solo act' and 'the problems and solutions are systemic'. Collectively, the themes showed that the clean athlete identity is generally rooted in upbringing, early experiences and love of sport; and characterised by continued, intrinsically motivated commitment to fundamental values and morals acquired in childhood. In contrast, the concept of clean performance-enhancement is highly idiosyncratic and flexible. Elite athletes value anti-doping efforts but their experiences of disparity and unfairness in doping control undermine their trust in anti-doping. Conclusion:Clean athlete identity is a social endeavour and artefact, which needs to be reflected in and developed through evidence-informed anti-doping interventions. Raising athletes' voices via co-collaboration and participatory research can be an enriching experience for athletes and researchers alike, and a worthwhile endeavour for sport organisations with responsibility for anti-doping. To make anti-doping education personally relevant, the richness of individual interpretation of 'clean' for the self (i.e., clean athlete identity) and performance-enhancement must be acknowledged, respected and cultivated.

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An alternative approach to understanding doping behavior: A pilot study applying the Q-method to doping research

Cited by 6 publications

References 34 publications

The performance enhancement attitude scale (PEAS) reached ‘adulthood’: Lessons and recommendations from a systematic review and meta-analysis

The performance enhancement attitude scale (PEAS) reached ‘adulthood’: Lessons and recommendations from a systematic review and meta-analysis

GRADE IT—A Literacy-Based Assessment Tool for Generating Research-Based Assessment Data to Evidence the ImpacT of Anti-doping Education via Athletes' Capability to Make the Right Decision

Understanding and building clean(er) sport together: Community-based participatory research with elite athletes and anti-doping organisations from five European countries

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