Author(s): NAKAJIMA, R., KATO, K.2, MATSUO, E.1, KATO, Y.1, ONUMA, N.1, WATANABE, F.1, Institution: NIHON UNIVERSITY, Country: JAPAN, Abstract-ID: 756

INTRODUCTION:
Japan’s high school curriculum guidelines include an item on anti-doping education, that clearly states the need for anti-doping education for the general public. Although elite athletes receive extensive anti-doping education through their affiliated sports organizations, young athletes who do not have the opportunity for such education lack knowledge about the same. Therefore, in this study, we focused on entertainment education that is effective in health education for young people, both athletes and non-athletes, and thereby developed health education materials in the form of comics. We conducted entertainment health education in the form of comics for the general public and young student athletes and evaluated the effectiveness of the educational materials by measuring their knowledge about doping and health before and after the education.
METHODS:
We conducted health education using cartoon-style health educational materials for students enrolled in colleges of technology (non-athlete students) and University of sports science (athlete students) in Japan. The education content included knowledge about anti-doping, nutrition, and supplements, among other topics. A health education module and initial questionnaire was conducted, and a follow-up questionnaire was conducted after three months of education.
RESULTS:
Health education was provided to 136 non-athlete students (82% male, average age 18.3 years) and 116 athlete students (86% male, average age 19.7 years). Respondents’ answer that they “understand well about doping and can teach others about doping” increased from 3.8% to 16.3% for non-athletes and from 7.2% to 14.3% for athletes before and after the education. Regarding the evaluation of dietary diversity, which indicates nutritional balance, improvements were seen only for non-athletes. The percentage of respondents who strongly agree with the question, “Supplements are food, and anyone can take them safely,” changed from 10.3% to 2.9% for non-athletes and from 8.7% to 4.8% for athletes before and after the education.
CONCLUSION:
Improvement was observed, in areas like understanding of doping, and knowledge regarding supplements, as a result of entertainment health education using cartoon-style health educational materials. Health education using cartoon-style health educational materials was thus suggested to improve the health knowledge including the understanding of anti-doping for both non-athlete and athlete students.