This project is a partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and the ant-doping organisations of Australia and Sweden. The project aims to understand the factors that women consider when making the decision to use or abstain from using performance and image enhancing drugs. We seek to understand how PIED use is understood in relation to gender, age, and sport, and the role support personnel have in facilitating or preventing use.
The need
Performance and image-enhancing drugs (PIEDs) are used to improve body image and athletic performance, but existing research has largely focused on men, particularly anabolic steroid use. Evidence suggests PIED use among women is increasing, with support personnel such as coaches playing a disproportionate role in influencing women’s decisions to use or avoid these substances. In response, this multisite qualitative study, co-designed with national anti-doping and sporting organisations, will interview female athletes in Australia, the UK, and Sweden to examine the role of support personnel and the broader psycho-socio-cultural factors shaping women’s PIED use.
About
The project will undertake 120 in-depth interviews in the three participating countries with women from tested and non-tested sports who have used or not used PIEDs.
Impact
- Worldwide, women’s sport is becoming increasingly professionalized and commercialized. This shift is providing women who may have competed in non-traditional sports, that are not subject to anti-doping controls, or who have only had access to lower tiers of sports, the opportunity to move into elite levels of professional sport.
- The results will help design harm reduction and prevention materials targeted towards women from a variety of sporting backgrounds.
Collaborators
Funding
Our funding is pooled from a number of organisations and research funds.
- World Anti Doping Agency (WADA)