A Psychological Intervention Reduces Doping Likelihood in Italian Athletes: A Replication and Extension

Research on doping prevention has proliferated in recent years as evidenced by the development of several anti-doping interventions. However, researchers have rarely examined whether an anti-doping intervention delivered and evaluated in one population is similarly effective in a different population. The purpose of our research was to determine: (a) whether the findings of a study examining whether a psychological intervention is more effective than an educational intervention in preventing doping in British and Greek athletes would be replicated in a sample of Italian athletes; and (b) whether the two interventions would be more effective than a control group of athletes receiving no intervention. Eligible participants were identified via a screening survey administered to 540 athletes from 46 clubs in Italy. A total of 15 sport clubs (121 athletes; 16.95% female; aged 18.52 ± 2.15 years) were assigned to one of three conditions: a psychological intervention, an educational intervention, or a no-intervention control group. Each intervention consisted of six one-hour sessions delivered to small groups of athletes over six weeks. Athletes completed measures of doping likelihood, anticipated guilt, moral disengagement, and self-regulatory efficacy pre-intervention, post-intervention, and two months later. Control group participants completed the same measures at the same time points. The two interventions were similarly effective in reducing doping likelihood and increasing anticipated guilt from pre to post, while the control group showed no change; these effects were maintained at follow up. Both interventions reduced moral disengagement and increased self-regulatory efficacy from pre to post relative to the control group, and these effects were maintained at follow-up. In conclusion, the results of our study replicate previous findings and highlight the need for anti-doping organisations to target psychological variables and doping-relevant information in anti-doping education.

Doping, which refers to the use of prohibited Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) and methods, can have significant adverse consequences for athletes’ health (see Bird et al., 2016), undermines fair play, and is a threat to the integrity and image of sport (Kavussanu et al., 2021). Despite major investment by governments worldwide in sophisticated methods to detect doping, prevalence remains high. Doping prevalence has been estimated to range from 10.6% to 21% in elite athletes competing in athletics (Petroczi et al., 2022), while in recreational athletes, estimates range from 18% to 24% (Pitsch, 2022). The need exists therefore to tackle this important problem using effective prevention strategies. To this end, several studies have developed and evaluated interventions aimed to prevent doping (for a review see Filleul et al., 2024) and some have been successful (e.g., Nichols et al., 2020). However, the findings of most interventions have typically not been replicated with a different population, in another country and most of them have not been theory-based. In this research we aim to fill this gap in the literature.