In this chapter, we provide an overview of Crisis Decision Theory (CDT), as well as the concept of athlete vulnerability, within the context of doping in sport. Specifically, we look at the decisions athletes make about doping, or about following clean sport behaviour, and why. In doing so, we highlight the vulnerability concept followed by the mostly overlooked notion that the reasons for deciding to take the doping behaviour path are not the opposite of the clean sport behaviour path. We present illustrative cases in the CDT framework to show the variety of negative events and ways athletes may become involved in doping, or not, and argue that characteristic doping scenarios do not exist. Consequently, whilst CDT can be a useful tool to capture how individuals assess the severity of the crisis they experience, it lacks the critical subjective element (i.e., meaning-making context), and the importance of past experience and anticipated future. We close the chapter with practical recommendations for anti-doping education to address doping-related vulnerability in the face of negative events or a crisis, and propose that in the application of CDT to doping/anti-doping decisions, researchers and practitioners should incorporate the meaning-making process into the model.
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Petróczi, AndreaBlank, CorneliaThrower, Sam N,
Department of Sport, Health Sciences and Social Work
Year of publication: 2024Date of RADAR deposit: 2024-05-10