Knowledge of pharmacy students about doping, and the need for doping education: a questionnaire survey

Keita Shibata,Naomi Kurata,Koichi Ichikawa

doi:10.1186/s13104-017-2713-7

Abstract

BackgroundAnti-doping activities are carried out on a global scale. Based on these activities, the specialty of “sports pharmacist,” which entails a deeper comprehension of doping, use of supplements, and appropriate drug use for athletes, was established in 2009 in Japan. It is difficult to say whether the education on doping is adequate for pharmacy students who will be eligible to become sports pharmacists. It is also unclear how well these students understand doping. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate pharmacy students’ current knowledge of appropriate drug use, doping and use of supplements, and to explore the need for further education on these topics.MethodsA questionnaire survey was conducted from July 3rd to August 2nd in 2014 at Showa University in Japan. A total of 406 respondents (2nd- to 6th-year students) were assessed as eligible. Group comparison was used to compare those who had attended a lecture about doping and those who had not.ResultsMost of the students only knew the word doping and had not attended a lecture on the subject, but 72% of them expressed a desire to attend one. Over half did not know that the most common doping violation in Japan is unintentional doping, and were unfamiliar with certain past cases of doping. In addition, 41% did not know that over-the-counter medicines and dietary supplements might contain prohibited substances, and 87% were unaware that names of prohibited substances might not appear on the ingredient labels of dietary supplements. In contrast, attending a lecture on doping was effective in facilitating the acquisition of all these types of knowledge.ConclusionsIt is important to provide more opportunities for appropriate education of pharmacy students on the topic of doping, given that interest exists and attending a lecture on the topic appears to be useful. More education about doping for pharmacy students would be as effective for anti-doping activities as is education of athletes.

Highlights

Anti-doping activities are carried out on a global scale
According to the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC), a substance or Shibata et al BMC Res Notes (2017) 10:396 method should be considered for inclusion on the prohibited list if the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which has sole discretion in the matter, determines that the substance or method meets any two of the following three criteria: (1) potentially enhance or enhances sport performance, (2) represents an actual or potential health risk to athletes, (3) violates the spirit of sport [1]
Attending a lecture appeared to influence the kinds of past cases of doping that pharmacy students recognized: knowledge of unintentional doping and of doping at domestic competitions was higher in the PL group (Fig. 2f, g). These results suggest that attending a lecture about doping may allow pharmacy students to be less affected by popular media like TV, which tends to focus more on intentional doping or doping at international competitions that draw high public interest

Summary

Introduction

Anti-doping activities are carried out on a global scale Based on these activities, the specialty of “sports pharmacist,” which entails a deeper comprehension of doping, use of supplements, and appropriate drug use for athletes, was established in 2009 in Japan. It is difficult to say whether the education on doping is adequate for pharmacy students who will be eligible to become sports pharmacists. Because of expansion of the eligibility rules for doping tests, such tests are conducted at top-level international competitions and at domestic-level events regardless of participants’ ages. It may be a significant social problem among younger generations [5]. There is little information on doping in general, and public’s access to such information is limited

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