Doping and mental health: attitudes and beliefs in high performance Cuban athletes

Abstract

Introduction: To contribute to the mental health of the high-performance athlete, in addition to other psychological factors, it is important to know the beliefs and attitudes in the athletes about doping, in order to enhance educational work, mental health, and psychological well-being.

Objective: To determine beliefs and attitudes in elite Cuban athletes of maximum performance regarding doping.

Methods: A non-experimental, descriptive study was carried out in three hundred national pre-selection athletes (n = 37). The Attitudes and Beliefs about Doping Scale was applied, with empirical distribution of frequencies, means, and standard deviation, as well as the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin and Bartlett test for factorial analysis, and the Pearson Chi2 test.

Results: 50 % of athletes have beliefs and attitudes of rejection toward doping.

Conclusions: Attitudes of rejection and the majority of correct beliefs on the subject are the factors that athletes recognize as those having the greatest impact on the appearance of doping-prone behaviors. Although arguments have been demonstrated that point toward certain beliefs of approach to doping, specifically as a way to achieve significant sport results, enhance performance, and obtain economic benefits, there are values such as honesty and responsibility that prevail as guiding elements for behaviors not associated with the use of doping, and that contribute to their mental health.