In force Publication date 14 Dec 23
A test of the effectiveness of the SafeYou program in four countries: A randomised control trial
Project description
Summary
This project aims to empirically investigate the effectiveness of the SAFE YOU Anti-Doping Education Program among competitive athletes from four countries: United Kingdom, Greece, Romania and Cyprus. Specifically, SAFE YOU aims to find out if athletes who attended this education Program report:
A) Greater awareness of and knowledge of the consequences of doping and ADRVs?
B) Greater scores in self-efficacy and coping skills to resist doping use in given situations?
C) Greater self-efficacy to be clean sport champions and set the example for others?
Methodology
A total of 285 athletes from Cyprus, Greece, Romania and UK took part in the study. Athletes were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. Intervention group athletes attended the SafeYou program whereas those in the control groups viewed videos related to doping. Athletes completed measures of knowledge about doping and inadvertent doping, doping attitudes, willingness and moral disengagement, self-efficacy to resist temptations, intentions to support clean sport, doping related benefits and actual doping use in three time points, before and after the intervention and two months follow-up. The SafeYou program was shortened to six sessions (four sessions were delivered in Cyprus) and delivered online due to COVID-19 restrictions during the implementation period.
Results
The results of the analyses indicated no significant effect of the intervention οn athletes’ beliefs about doping in all countries. In Romania only, significant effects were found for health benefits, self-efficacy in resisting temptation, and intentions to support clean sport.