WADA - Brazilian coaches’ anti-doping values, challenges, priorities and cultural perceptions

Page 1/2 Brazilian coaches’ anti-doping values, challenges, priorities and cultural perceptions

Nathalia Medeiros Tier 3

Coaches are key individuals in the fight against doping (WADA, 2021b) because they are influential agents in athletes' (anti)doping behaviours (Patterson & Backhouse, 2018), they can precipitate or prevent athletes’ engagement in doping (Allen et al., 2017 ). Additionally, a systematic review and metaanalysis show that coaches can have a significant impact on an athlete's behaviour (Ntoumanis et al., 2024). However, no research has specifically examined Brazilian coaches in anti-doping.

This gap appears concerning, given the current antidoping context in Brazil. There has been a high prevalence of stimulant use among Brazilian athletes, often attributed to "self-administration of medications," "body shaping" culture, and the use of nutrit ional supplements (Pereira & Sardela, 2014). The analysis of different regions of Brazil has further revealed significant variation in anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) use, with prevalence rates ranging from 2.1% to 31.6% across different areas of the country (Abrahin et al., 2013). Moreover, Brazil consistently ranks among the top 10 countries globally with the highest number of ADRVs (WADA, 2020).

The anti-doping limitation of research in developing countries like Brazil could potentially hinder knowledge and negatively impact anti -doping efforts. Understanding the perspective of Brazilian coaches is important for the fight against doping because they may face different challenges to promoting clean sport than their Western counterparts (Ruwuya et al., 2024). Therefore, the main objective of this research is to conduct a pilot investigation of how Brazilian coaches perceive antidoping. To explore their values, challenges, priorities and cultural perceptions.

Twenty coaches (10 males and 10 females) from different sports involved in high-performance training at national

investigation of how Brazilian coaches perceive antidoping. To explore their values, challenges, priorities and cultural perceptions.

Twenty coaches (10 males and 10 females) from different sports involved in high-performance training at national and international levels will be recruited through the Brazilian Doping Control Authority and the Brazilian Olympic Committee and they will participate in semi-structured interviews. The focus of the interviews will be to explore the general context of coaches, the specific challenges faced in the profession, the difficulties related to doping in sport, the cultural influences and the main priorities and values that guide the actions of coaches. The collected data will be thematically analysed (Braun et al., 2016).Page 2/2 This study will impact the fight against doping in the following ways:

1Pioneering Research: The first to involve Brazilian coaches in antidoping, will offer an understanding of Brazil's unique cultural context. This will provide detailed insights that can guide both local and international anti -doping strategies, thereby cont ributing to ongoing discussions about antidoping in academia and the sports field.

2Expansion of Research: Expand anti-doping research in a large developing country, thereby contributing to the international body of research by enriching the understanding of cultural factors in anti -doping. Therefore, it will increase global representation in research and reduce cultural bias.

3Guidance: The collected data can inform future local and international policies and practices, such as the development of personalized anti-doping educational programs for Brazilian coaches, thereby influencing the sports field.

Therefore, the findings have the potential to impact clean sport practices among coaches, contributing valuable knowledge to the field and research both at the local and global level.