THE IMPACT OF ATHLETES’ ATTITUDE, KNOWLEDGE, AND AWARENESS OF THEIR BELIEF ABOUT AUTOCHTHONOUS BOTANICAL SUPPLEMENTS IN OYO STATE: A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELLING APPROACH

Olawumi Adisa, John Oluwasogo Ayorinde, Olufemi Adegbola Adegbesan, Yinka James Oyeniyi, Sunday Peter Ogundeji, Oluwakemi Adeola Olowofolahan, Olaitan Johnson Balogun, Olunike Adedoyin Bello, Peggy-joe Nwanefuru Olaseinde

Abstract


Autochthonous botanical supplements (ABS) refer to locally sourced plant-based products traditionally used for their medicinal, nutritional, or therapeutic properties. While the use of supplements is not inherently banned in sports, emerging evidence reveals cases of professional athletes being entangled in controversial and contestable doping allegations linked to ABS usage. This study was therefore designed to determine the impact of athletes’ attitudes, knowledge, and awareness on their beliefs about ABS in Oyo State, Nigeria. Equally, the study determined the pattern of usage of ABS among athletes. Using structural equation modeling for our data analysis, our findings indicate that the total effect of athletes' attitudes toward ABS on their beliefs was the most significant, effectively doubling the direct impact of knowledge regarding these supplements. This observation also holds for the direct effects of both attitude and knowledge, while awareness exhibited a very weak positive effect. Additionally, the mediating effect of awareness rendered the indirect effects of attitude and knowledge equivalent in magnitude, both moving in a positive direction. The study concluded that athletes' awareness of ABS closes the gap that exists in the effect of knowledge and attitude on their beliefs about autochthonous botanical supplements.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


botanicals, supplements usage, doping, attitude and knowledge, awareness and belief

Full Text:

PDF

References


Adams J, Sibbritt D, Lui C.W, 2011. The use of complementary and alternative medicine among Australian athletes: findings from a national survey. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 14(6): 512-516.

Adisa O, Odior S.K., 2024. Vulnerability and Prevalence of Doping in School Sports. Legacy of Excellence in Education and Sports Management: A Festschrift for Prof. Ebenezer Olatunde Morakinyo. Department of Human Kinetics, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

Barkoukis V, Lazuras L, Tsorbatzoudis H, Rodafinos A, 2011. Motivational and sportspersonship profiles of elite athletes in relation to doping behavior. Psychology of Sport and Exercise 12(3): 205–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2010.10.003

Daher J, El Khoury D, Dwyer J.J.M, 2021. Education interventions to improve knowledge, beliefs, intentions and practices with respect to dietary supplements and doping substances: A narrative review. Nutrients 13(11): 3935. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13113935

El Khoury D, Antoine-Jonville S, 2024. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of gym users towards the use of dietary supplements: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness 22(1): 45-53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.peh.2024.100307

Knapik J.J, Steelman R.A, Hoedebecke S.S, Austin K.G, Farina E.K, Lieberman H.R, 2016. Prevalence of dietary supplement use by athletes: systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine 46(1): 103-123. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-015-0387-7

Maughan R.J, Depiesse F, Geyer H, 2007. The use of dietary supplements by athletes. Journal of Sports Sciences 25(S1): S103-S113. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/02640410701607395

Nicholls A.R, Cope E, Bailey R, Koenen K, Dumon D, Theodorou N.C, Chanal B, Saint Laurent D, Müller D, Andrés M.P, Kristensen A.H, Thompson M.A, Baumann W, Laurent, J.-F, 2017. 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. Frontiers in Psychology 8, doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01015.

Ros, J.J.W., Pelders, M.G, De Smet P.A.G.M, 1999. A case of positive doping associated with a botanical food supplement. Pharmacy World and Science 21(1): 44–46. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1008681612399

Sobal J, Marquart L.F, 1994. Vitamin/mineral supplement use among high school athletes. Adolescence, 29(116), 835-843. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7892794/

Tian H.H, Ong W.S, Tan C.L, 2019. Nutritional supplement use among university athletes in Singapore. Singapore Medical Journal 50(2): 165-172. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19296032/

World Anti-Doping Agency, 2019. World Anti-Doping Program 2019 Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) Report. https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/2022-01/2019_adrv_report_external_final_12_december_2021_0_0.pdf. Accessed 14 May 2025.

World Anti-Doping Agency, 2020. ERA NEW. https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/wada_ar_2020_final_web_en.pdf. Accessed 25 April 2025.

Yager Z, O’Dea J.A, 2014. Relationships between body image, nutritional supplement use, and attitudes towards doping in sport among adolescent boys: implications for prevention programs. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 11(1), doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/1550-2783-11-13.

Yesalis C, Bahrke M, 2002. Performance Enhancing Substances in Sport and Exercise. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Performance-Enhancing-Substances-in-Sport-and-Yesalis-Bahrke/5bda4758c21e56e55a6a29407b15a7f75eaf8733. Accessed 15 Feb. 2025.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejpe.v13i2.6528

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2026 Olawumi Adisa, John Oluwasogo Ayorinde, Olufemi Adegbola Adegbesan, Yinka James Oyeniyi, Sunday Peter Ogundeji, Oluwakemi Adeola Olowofolahan, Olaitan Johnson Balogun, Olunike Adedoyin Bello, Peggy-joe Nwanefuru Olaseinde

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright © 2015 - 2026. European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science (ISSN 2501 - 1235) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All authors who send their manuscripts to this journal and whose articles are published on this journal retain full copyright of their articles. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).