The Knowledge of Club Wrestlers of Tehran about Doping Issues and Their Estimation of Current Prevalence, 1385-86

Nowadays, doping is an intricate dilemma for athletes. Wrestling is the domestic, national and popular sport in Iran. Meanwhile, the prevalence of drug abuse in wrestling is high due to its power-demanding nature. So, we decided to evaluate the knowledge of club wrestlers of Tehran about doping and their estimates of current prevalence in the country. In a cross sectional study, 426 wrestlers were studied during 1385-1386. For this purpose, a questionnaire was used and its validity and reliability were approved in a pilot study of 30 athletes. In this study, researchers selected the clubs by randomized clustered sampling, distributed the questionnaires among wrestlers and collected the completed forms. Data were analyzed with SPSS software. The knowledge of wrestlers in three categories of doping definition, recognition of prohibited drugs and side effects was poor or moderate (70.8%, 95.8% and 99.5% respectively). 4/8%, 13% and 5.2% of participants regarded their friends, coaches and physicians as their main consultants. 35.4% and 12.5% of wrestlers estimated over 50% prevalence of drug abuse in professional leagues and their own clubs respectively. It seems that wrestlers of Tehran do not have good knowledge about doping materials. It seems necessary to design a comprehensive educational program for all audiences aimed to eliminate the ignorance, to correct the inappropriate attitudes, to warn about the adverse consequences and to pay attention to values of fighting against doping.