Abstract

Authors: C Ward, P Singh, A Mansingh, N Wade, A Facey, S Roopchand-Martin

Objective: Studies worldwide have shown that physicians in general practice often do not have adequate knowledge or confidence in relation to anti-doping issues in sport. There is little information on this topic for the Caribbean region and this study sought to explore Barbadian polyclinic doctors’ knowledge in relation to anti-doping.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted and a 28 item self-administered questionnaire was completed by polyclinic doctors following informed consent.

Results: Thirty doctors participated with 66% having at least 6 years of experience. None had formal sports medicine training but 30% volunteered at a sports event and 83.3% had athletes as patients. Knowledge scores varied from 100% correct, when respondents said that Paracetamol was a WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) permitted the drug to 76.7% not knowing that Atenolol is only banned in some sports. Only 26.7% noticed the anti-doping information in the Barbados Drug Service’s formulary and only 13.3% indicated that they attended any Ministry of Health training sessions in which anti-doping education was included. All but one of the participants (96.7%) said that they would like more information on anti-doping and only 13% considered themselves to be confident in their ability to treat athletes while staying within WADA’s rules.

Conclusion: Barbadian polyclinic doctors lacked anti-doping knowledge in key areas and were not confident in anti-doping.