Doping in sport: a health education-based intervention among young athletes

Background - The extent of sport doping and its potential risks Sor health is to be considered as a problem of public health. Until now, only a very f ew number of prevention programs have been shown to be efficient. The aim o f this prospective study was to test die benefit of a specific educational intervention to reduce the intent of adolescent athletes to use drugs. Patients and methods. - The participants were 476 adolescent athletes invol ved into high-level events, 238 were included irt the experimental group an d 238 as control group. The intervention was divided in Sour stages: inform ation on epidemiology of doping irt sport, discussions about nutritional su pplement and other authorized products, a drug simulating role play, and in formation on self-medication. The program was evaluated by a self-administr ated questionnaire before, just after the intervention, and three months la ter Results. - A significant decrease in the intention to use doping drugs, and an increase in the perception of being able to refuse doping was found in the experimental group three months after the intervention. Conclusions. - This work suggests that health education based interventions are effective in preventing drug use among adolescent athletes. (C) 1999 E lsevier; Paris.