Abstract

Introduction: Doping is the use of prohibited substances or methods to unfairly improve athletes’ sporting performance. It’s one of the greatest threats to fair sports competition as it is cheating and is contrary to the spirit of sport. This study assessed the knowledge, attitude, and practice of doping among athletes of the Amhara region, Ethiopia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from November to December 2020, and simple random sampling was used to select 155 participants who were on training. The attitude and practice of doping were assessed using the Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale and Doping Use Belief respectively. Descriptive and multiple logistic regression analyses were computed using the statistical package for social sciences version 20.

Results: The study revealed acceptable reliability. Nearly two-third (59.2%; 95% CI; 52.5%, 67.1%) and below half (42.1%; 95% CI; 35.4%, 50.8%) of participants had knowledge on specific areas of doping and positive attitude on the effect of doping. Nineteen (10.5%; 95% CI; 6.5%, 15.2%) of participants had doping personal experience. Factors associated with knowledge were less than a year (AOR: 3.16, 95% CI 1.21-8.22) and 2-3 years of training (AOR: 2.03, 95% CI: 0.88-4.70), short (AOR: 0.24, 95% CI: 0.06-0.83) and medium distance runners (AOR: 0.46, 95% CI: 0.21- 0.97). Age < 18 (AOR: 0.37, 95% CI: 0.10-0.82) and 19-22 years (AOR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.36-1.88) were associated with attitude. Being male (AOR: 0.16, 95% CI: 0.03-0.82), and single (AOR: 10.12, 95% CI: 2.35-43.50) were associated with doping practice.

Conclusions: Few study participants had a personal experience with banned performance-enhancing drugs. A high and moderate proportion of participants had good doping knowledge and attitude, respectively. Education, testing and, the punishment of offenders are recommended as doping prevention programs.