Abstract

Knowledge and attitude towards prohibited substances in sports among community pharmacists.

 Puttichat Tubtimsai

Apanun Eamsamran 

Nonglek Kunawaradisai

 Sawaeng Watcharathanakij 

Keywords: Prohibited substances, Knowledge, Attitude, Community pharmacists

Introduction: Although there have been a rigid control on prohibited substances in sports, many unintentionally usage of these substances are still reported.  This may affect the athletes’right to participate the match, including an abnegation of any results from the contest. Drug stores are the primary healthcare services with a chance to provide some forbidden substances without intention if lacking of knowledge in this field.  This study is therefore aimed to survey the knowledge and attitude towards prohibited substances in sports among community pharmacists. Methods:A cross-sectional survey was conducted.  The subjects were 289 pharmacists working in any accredited pharmacy from all over the country.Data were collected by using a self-administered questionnaire which was composed of 25 items for knowledge test and 10 items for attitude test.  All questionnaires were collected via online with an access through QR code. Descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage were used to analyze the data.Results: There were 107 pharmacists (37.02 percent of total subjects)who replied and completed an online questionnaire. The results revealed that 46.73 percent of subjects had a knowledge about prohibited substances in the medium level (mean score of 15.001.47) and 37.38 percent at low level (mean score of 7.683.68).  There were only 15.89 percent of pharmacists with a knowledge in high level(mean score of 19.711.72). In terms of the attitude towards this topic, 46.70 percent of subjects agreed that the awareness in adverse reactions of theses forbidden substances should be increasingly promoted. Moreover, only 1.90 percent of pharmacists indicated that their knowledge was sufficient to work in case. Conclusion: Most pharmacists had known a little about prohibited substances in sports and agreed that their basic knowledge about this topic may not be enough in real situations.Therefore, the results from this study can be used as a support and a recommendation to provide knowledge about prohibited substances in sports to pharmacists in the future.