Qualitative analysis of the factors associated with whistleblowing intentions among athletes from six European countries.

Although whistleblowing is thought to represent an effective mechanism for detecting and uncovering doping in sport, it has yet to become a widely adopted practice. Understanding the factors that encourage or discourage whistleblowing is of vital importance for the promotion of this practice and the development of pedagogical material to enhance the likelihood of whistleblowing. The current study employed a qualitative methodology to explore the personal and organisational factors that underpin intentions to blow the whistle or that may lead to engagement in whistleblowing behaviours in sport. Thirty-three competitive athletes across a range of sports took part in a semi-structured interview which sought to explore what they would do should they encounter a doping scenario. Content analysis revealed that whistleblowing is a dynamic process characterised by the interaction of a range of personal and organisational factors in determining the intention to report PED use. These factors included moral reasoning, a desire to keep the matter "in-house", perceived personal costs, institutional attitudes to doping, and social support. Analysis revealed a number of "intervening events", including a perceived lack of organisational protection (e.g., ethical leadership) within some sporting sub-cultures, which present an important obstacle to whistleblowing. The intention to report doping was underpinned by a "fairness-loyalty trade-off" which involved athletes choosing to adhere to either fairness norms (which relate to a sense that all people and groups are treated equally) or loyalty norms (which reflect preferential treatment towards an in-group) when deciding whether they would blow the whistle. The promotion of fairness norms that emphasise a group's collective interests might encourage athletes to view whistleblowing as a means of increasing group cohesiveness and effectiveness and thereby increase the likelihood of this practice.

Behaviours and Beliefs Related to Whistleblowing Against Doping in Sport: A Cross-National Study.

Background: Whistleblowing has been recognized as an important deterrent of doping in elite competitive sport. The present study examined athletes' knowledge of external whistleblowing channels and on how and where to report doping misconduct, perceived trust in different whistleblowing reporting channels, whistleblowing behaviour and athletes' reasons for reporting (or not) doping misconduct. Methods: Athletes from Greece (n = 480), the Russian Federation (n = 512) and the United Kingdom (n = 171) completed a structured questionnaire on demographics, knowledge of different whistleblowing channels, perceived trust in internal and external whistleblowing channels, past whistleblowing behaviour and reasons for reporting (or not) doping misconduct. Results: The British athletes reported greater awareness of whistleblowing reporting channels (e.g., WADA's Speak Up and IOC's reporting platform) than did athletes from Greece (all p < 0.001) and Russia (p = 0.07, and p = 0.012) respectively. However, British athletes reported the lowest scores on knowledge of how and where to report doping misconduct, as compared to athletes from Greece and Russia. The majority of respondents reported greater trust to their coach or a club manager than to other whistleblowing channels, however, responses regarding other channels varied by country. Among athletes who detected doping misconduct 62% of athletes did not report it, while 38% reported it. Reasons for and against reporting doping misconduct reflected in eight themes that were identified using thematic analysis. Conclusion: Athletes showed low awareness of external whistleblowing channels and they predominantly trusted internal whistleblowing channels. Sportspersonship, confidence in resources and personal benefits were among the reasons that facilitate reporting doping misconduct. The present findings indicate that cultural context may play a role in the ways athletes perceive whistleblowing, and this should be taken into account by future interventions to promote the reporting of doping misconduct.

Snitches Get Stitches and End Up in Ditches: A Systematic Review of the Factors Associated With Whistleblowing Intentions.

Blowing the whistle on corruption or wrongdoing can facilitate the detection, investigation, and then prosecution of a violation that may have otherwise gone undetected. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify the factors that are associated with intentions to blow the whistle on wrongdoing. We searched Academic Search Premier, CINAHL Complete, Education Research Complete, ERIC, Medline, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, Regional Business News, and SPORTDiscus in January 2020. The quality of evidence was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Of the 9,136 records identified, 217 studies were included in this systematic review. We identified 8 dimensions, 26 higher-order themes, and 119 lower-order themes. The whistleblowing dimensions were personal factors, organizational factors, cost and benefits, outcome expectancies, the offense, reporting, the wrongdoer, and social factors. Based on the findings, it is apparent that organizations should empower, educate, protect, support, and reward those who blow the whistle, in order to increase the likelihood on individuals blowing the whistle on corruption and wrongdoing. A combined approach may increase whistleblowing intentions, although research is required to test this assertion. From a policy perspective, more consistent protection is required across different countries.

Whistleblowing Against Doping Misconduct in Sport: A Reasoned Action Perspective With a Focus on Affective and Normative Processes.

Whistleblowing against doping misconduct represents an effective deterrent of doping use in elite competitive sport. The present study assessed the effects of social cognitive variables on competitive athletes' intentions to report doping misconduct. A second objective was to assess whether the effects of social norms on whistleblowing intentions were mediated by actor prototype evaluations and group identification and orientation. In total, 1,163 competitive athletes from Greece, Russia, and the United Kingdom completed a questionnaire on demographics, past behavior, social cognitive variables, and intentions toward whistleblowing. Regression analyses showed that whistleblowing intentions were associated with different social cognitive variables in each country. Multiple mediation modeling showed that attitudes and subjective norms were associated with whistleblowing intentions indirectly, via the effects of anticipated negative affect and group identification and orientation, respectively. The findings of this study are novel and have important implications about the social, cognitive, and normative processes underlying decision making toward reporting doping misconduct.

Feasibility randomised controlled trial examining the effects of the Anti-Doping Values in Coach Education (ADVICE) mobile application on doping knowledge and attitudes towards doping among grassroots coaches.

OBJECTIVES: Sports coaches are influential in whether athletes dope, but receive very little antidoping education, particularly within entry-level coaching qualifications. We tested the feasibility of an antidoping intervention, delivered via a mobile application, which was designed to increase coaches' knowledge of doping and to reduce favourable doping attitudes. METHODS: A two-arm randomised controlled trial, with grassroots coaches who coach young amateur athletes aged between 14 and 18 years of age, was conducted. The Anti-Doping Values in Coach Education (ADVICE) mobile application included modules on fair play, substances, nutritional supplements, rules and leadership. The primary outcome was the change in doping knowledge, 6 weeks after receiving the mobile application. The secondary outcome was changes in doping attitudes. RESULTS: Grassroots coaches (n=200; aged between 18 and 71 years, with between 1 and 42 years of coaching experience) from 29 different countries completed baseline assessments, and 85 completed follow-up assessments, and were included in mixed analysis of variance analyses. The intervention increased coaches' knowledge about doping and also reduced favourable doping attitudes in the experimental arm. CONCLUSION: The ADVICE mobile application is a feasible method for delivering and increasing grassroots coaches' knowledge of banned substances and the potential side effects of doping. Mobile application-based resources could facilitate a much wider dissemination of antidoping education.

Changes in Tannin Composition of Syrah Grape Skins and Seeds during Fruit Ripening under Contrasting Water Conditions.

Tannin accumulation and composition were determined in skins and seeds isolated from Vitis vinifera cv. Syrah grapes submitted to contrasting water regimes under semiarid climatic conditions. Three irrigation treatments were conducted, starting at berry set through harvest of two growing seasons, 2011 and 2012: irrigation at 100% of crop evapotranspiration ETc (FI), irrigation at 50% of ETc (DI) and non-irrigated (NI). Seed total tannins did not vary with maturity but those of skins underwent a progressive decline (especially in 2011), expressed both on a fresh weight and on a per berry basis. Skin total tannin concentration and content per berry were increased under NI and DI conditions, mainly in 2012. In contrast, seed total tannins (in 2012) and flavan-3-ol monomers and tannin oligomers (both years) were higher in the fully irrigated vines (FI). Skin polymer size increased during ripening, NI and DI skins showing higher mean degree of polymerization (mDP) compared to FI at harvest. NI was also associated with a lower percentage of galloylation (%G) in skin oligomeric fraction (in 2012) and a lower percentage of prodelphinidins in the skin polymeric fraction (both years) at harvest. The mDP and %G of seed extracts did not vary during ripening and were higher in NI but only in 2012. According to the results, management of vine water status was shown to influence tannin amount and composition of Syrah grapes grown under semiarid conditions.

Children's First Experience of Taking Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids can Occur before Their 10th Birthday: A Systematic Review Identifying 9 Factors That Predicted Doping among Young People.

Taking performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) can cause serious and irreversible health consequences, which can ultimately lead to premature death. Some young people may take PEDs without fully understanding the ramifications of their actions or based on the advice from others. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify the main factors that predicted doping among young people. The literature was systematically reviewed using search engines, manually searching specialist journals, and pearl growing. Fifty-two studies, which included 187,288 young people aged between 10 and 21 years of age, 883 parents of adolescent athletes, and 11 adult coaches, who were interviewed regarding young athletes, were included in this review. Nine factors predicted doping among young people: gender; age; sports participation; sport type; psychological variables; entourage; ethnicity; nutritional supplements; and health harming behaviors. In regards to psychological variables, 22 different constructs were associated with doping among young people. Some psychological constructs were negatively associated with doping (e.g., self-esteem, resisting social pressure, and perfectionist strivings), whereas other were positively associated with doping (e.g., suicide risk, anticipated regret, and aggression). Policy makers and National Anti-Doping Organizations could use these findings to help identify athletes who are more at risk of doping and then expose these individuals to anti-doping education. Based on the current findings, it also appears that education programs should commence at the onset of adolescence or even late childhood, due to the young age in which some individuals start doping.

Effect of irrigation regime on anthocyanin content and antioxidant activity of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Syrah grapes under semiarid conditions.

BACKGROUND: Irrigation management is a powerful technique to control grape and wine colour. However, water deficit effects on anthocyanins are often contrasting, depending on the severity of water restriction. In addition, the effect of irrigation on the antiradical capacity of grapes has not been extensively studied. In this work the effect of water availability on anthocyanin profile and content as well as the antioxidant activity of Syrah grapes was investigated in an irrigation trial under semiarid climate conditions. RESULTS: Three irrigation treatments were applied in a 15-year-old Vitis vinifera cv. Syrah vineyard, starting at berry set through harvest of 2011 and 2012: full irrigation (FI) at 100% of crop evapotranspiration (ETc), deficit irrigation (DI) at 50% of ETc and non-irrigated (NI). NI grapes were characterized by increased individual anthocyanin content. However, differences among irrigation treatments were significant only around 18-24 days after veraison, when anthocyanin accumulation was maximum. The antioxidant activity of the skin extracts was not affected by irrigation. CONCLUSION: Irrigation proved to be an effective technique to control anthocyanin content in Syrah grapes under semiarid conditions. However, anthocyanin accumulation pattern should be considered by winemakers to appropriately select harvest time for improved wine colour.