Prevention of Anabolic Steroids use among Gym users: Application of Peer Education Approach

The use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) has been associated with serious side effects. AAS abuse is growing increasingly among professional and amateur athletes. The purposeof this study was to apply peer education approach to prevent anabolic steroid abuse among malegym users. This study was randomized pretest-posttest control group design which conducted was among young male gym users in Hamadan. Two body building clubs were randomly selected, and60 participants as intervention group and 60 as control group were enrolled at the baseline surveyand were followed up after 2-month. The educational programs to promote knowledge on nutritionin sport, side effects of anabolic steroid abuse and resistance skills were taught to the interventiongroup. The main communication strategy used in this study was peer education approach. There were statistically significant differences of score in knowledge, perceived severity, and intention reduction for using AAS among interventional versus control group (P < 0.05).However no significant difference was found for using anabolic steroid and perceived susceptibility after intervention between the two groups (P > 0.05). The results showed the increasing knowledge, perceived severity and intentionreduction to anabolic steroid after completing the educational program among athletes in the intervention group and the usefulness of instructional programs for them.