Health psychology and drugs in sport

Abstract

Health psychology, as a discipline in the social sciences, has the potential to make significant contributions to our understanding of the issue of performance enhancement in sport. This includes providing additional methods for deriving epidemiological and prevalence data, exploration of motives, decision-making and contributing contextual factors and the application of models of behaviour and methodologies that are aligned with health psychology. The application of theory is a major component of health psychology practice and occurs at the primary, secondary and tertiary level of intervention, which has parallels within performance enhancement in sport with prevention and detection. The use of different sampling methods and frames and aspects of health psychology clinical practice can broaden our understanding of the factors that contribute to identifying the elements of decision making and behaviour in performance enhancement in sport and have potential to contribute to the development of risk profiles and effective interventions.