Impact of multidisciplinary research on advancing anti-doping efforts

Abstract

Recent research outputs indicate that despite the considerable efforts exerted in social science to estimate, and potentially eliminate, the social desirability (SD) effect in researching socially sensitive issues, doping research has mainly overlooked the distorting effect of dishonesty. As the SD effect is a result of the interplay between personality and contextual contingencies, it varies greatly between individuals and from one situation to another. Similarly, the drugtesting regime for the most widely abused performance-enhancing substance, anabolic androgenic steroids, does not take into account individual genetic variations that can have profound effects on doping test results. The aims of this article are to highlight some major impediments in doping research and anti-doping strategies; to map the impact our research has made on doping research; and to highlight future directions to advance anti-doping efforts. Our multidisciplinary research effort, benefitting from the synergy between\ social and natural sciences, has created a unique platform for anti-doping research with the view of aiding not only detection, but also harm reduction, intervention and prevention. Benefitting from the synergy between social and analytical sciences, our results have drawn attention to the distorting effect of SD but also made progress in identifying methods to overcome the limitations associated with the sole use of the self-report methodology. These advances in behavioural approaches coupled with improved hair-based analytical methods provide an opportunity to coalesce disparate analytical and social approaches and build on the strengths in each approach and thus inform and strengthen each other.

Is there a danger for myopia in anti-doping education? Comparative analysis of substance use and misuse in Olympic racket sports calls for a broader approach

“…Future anti-doping policies should address the gaps that currently exist between the testing pool and all athletes including emerging (thus not yet selected for the testing pool) athletes and those training and competing at the sub-elite level; A holistic approach to SUM that considers athletes' substance use behaviour as a whole should be used [ 57 ] in order to prevent doping and preserve not only the integrity of sports but also the athletes' health. Critical analysis of one of the three pillars of the doping ban, namely the protection of the health of athletes, points to the health risks inherently present in elite level sports along with the widespread use of acceptable substances that can also pose health risks [ 58 ].…”

Experiences, attitudes and trust: an inquiry into elite athletes’ perception of the whereabouts reporting system

“…The answers, for example, might reflect what can be termed social desirability when dealing with sensitive questions in a self-administered questionnaire, for instance referring to doping (Gucciardi et al 2010, Petróczi and Naughton 2011, Pitsch and Emrich 2012 or other types of strategic response bias (Petróczi and Haugen 2012). A further aspect is -and this is confirmed by other studies -that athletes are generally in favour of anti-doping measures but simply believe that the whereabouts system transgresses an invisible limit of personal acceptance.…”

New non-randomised model to assess the prevalence of discriminating behaviour: a pilot study on mephedrone

“…Recent inter-disciplinary approaches to estimating doping prevalence in sporting sub-populations has led to advances in estimation through improved efficiencies [ 38 ]. The current study aimed to develop and test a new research tool for use at the epidemiological scale.…”