"I RUN CLEAN Project"-An Innovative and Self-Sustainable Approach to Develop Clean Sport Behaviours in Grassroots Athletes

The phenomenon of doping is a public health issue that poses threats to sport and society. In recent decades, the emphasis on efforts to address the issue and reduce the incidence of doping by young people in sport has shifted from deterrence through testing and punishment to the promotion of clean sport behaviours through values-based education. The "I Run Clean project" sought to develop new and effective tools targeting grassroots athletes and those around them (coaches, medical support personnel, sport leaders, parents). These included sport-specific e-learning and in-person peer-to-peer workshops led by trained volunteer ambassadors. The aim of all "I Run Clean" measures is to go beyond the warnings and provision of factual information about early anti-doping campaigns to a more holistic educational approach that focuses participants on their personal and sport-related values in order to encourage good decision-making and resistance to doping-related behaviours. This study evaluates the efficacy of the peer-to-peer workshops and their impact on selected psycho-social variables. The collaboration of the volunteer ambassadors is shown to effectively transmit the desired reasoning, reduce doping risk factors and enhance protective factors.

An Italian Campaign to Promote Anti-doping Culture in High-School Students

Doping poses a threat to sport worldwide. Studies have revealed that, in addition to elite athletes, amateur and recreational sportsmen and sportswomen are making increasing use of performance-enhancing drugs. Worryingly this trend has been documented among young people. Anti-doping efforts seeking to deter elite athletes from doping through detection of the use of prohibited substances are costly and have not been completely effective either at the top-level or the amateur/recreational level. A thoughtful education program, inspired by honesty and respect, might be more effective in shaping attitudes toward doping in young people and protecting their health. For these reasons, the Italian “Lotta al Doping” (Fight Against Doping) project sought to cause a cultural shift in young people by taking anti-doping seminars to high schools. In the 2017–2018 school year we reached more than 20,800 students from 157 high schools through 202 seminars. Before and after the seminars, we administrated anonymous, voluntarily completed surveys with a set of questions (items = 15), taken from the WADA-Play-True-Quiz. Upon completion of the 2-h seminar, the majority of the answers given by the students resulted correct (13 out of 15 items, p < 0.000001, McNemar) confirming the value of the initiative. This project stands out as promising in the doping prevention process at the youth and amateur levels.