In force Publication date 01 May 25
A systemic risk assessment of inadvertent doping through supplement use
Project description
Summary
Unintentional doping remains an intractable and complex problem in elite sport, primarily attributed to the high prevalence of supplement use among athletic populations. While past research has documented the occurrences, perceptions, and prevalence of unintentional doping, it has traditionally been focused on the athlete. This research, however, indicates that unintentional doping results from a complex set of contributory factors stemming from across the entire sports system.
Methodology
The project applied systems thinking-based methods to model the supplement use system in elite Australian sport and subsequently conduct a proactive risk assessment. The primary research question addressed was: What are the individual, organisational, and systemic factors that interact to create unintentional athlete doping events through supplement use?
The project was achieved across four phases:
1) Development of a Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) and task-social networks
2) Identification of task risks
3) Identification of emergent risks
4) Development of risk management strategies
System modelling and risk identification involved engaging subject matter experts (SMEs) in workshop settings.
Results
The system analysis demonstrated high complexity:
• The overall goal of supplement use involved 15 high-level sub-tasks, which were further broken down into 71 more specific sub-tasks.
• The risk assessment identified over 1800 risks associated with supplement use in Australia. Of the 1506 emergent risks identified, 354 (23.51%) were classified as high-probability and high-criticality.
• The most influential tasks included ‘maintaining clean sport’ (by anti-doping authorities) and ‘marketing/advertising’ (of supplements).
• The tasks generating the majority of risks included: ‘manufacture supplements’, ‘identify need to use supplements’, ‘research supplements’, ‘conduct health and sport science research’, and ‘regulate sport supplement sector’.
• The most influential stakeholders were anti-doping agencies (identified as the most central actor), ‘athlete support personnel’ (ASP), and ‘sponsors’.
• A key finding is that most risks are likely introduced several steps prior to the athlete acquiring or consuming the supplements.
Significance for Clean Sport
The findings call for a significant shift in intervention focus to achieve meaningful reductions in unintentional doping violations. Prevention strategies must shift away from the typical focus on athletes and athlete support personnel to encompass a broader systemic focus, crucially including the manufacturing of supplements and the regulation of the supplement sector. Targeting risks related to the manufacturing of supplements would likely enable positive downstream effects across the entire system, resulting in safer products being produced. The complexity of the system demands that combinations of prevention interventions targeting multiple areas must be implemented in addition to current educational approaches, resulting in a whole-of-system approach to reducing unintentional doping risks.
Related Publications
- Decoding unintentional doping: A complex systems analysis of supplement use in sport
- From Anti-doping-I to Anti-doping-II: Toward a paradigm shift for doping prevention in sport