engleski

Substance use in sport coaches

Introduction The risk factors influencing health in relation with the way of life are nutrition, physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol consumption and use of drugs (WHO, 2003). Smoking, as well as alcohol consumption start is associated with the influence of friends, parents or older brother and sisters (Epstein, 2000). Sport coaches are specific population who are in contact with children as well as adults. Dealing with children very often they become idols and children try to coppy their behaviour. The aim of this study was to examine alcohol and smoking habits in sport coaches. Methods Respondents of this study were active sport coaches of both genders (57 females and 152 males) and from different sport disciplines. Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) was used for screening alcohol consumption and for cigarette smoking habits FTND questionnaire (Haetherton et al, 1991.). The questionnaires were completed anonymously. The obtained data were analyzed by standard statistical procedures, with statistical software package SPSS 13.0. Results and discussion According to the results it is obvious that wide adopted opinion about people involved in sport having good health habits is not so truth. The percentage of athletes consuming alcohol, mostly beer and wine, is great, even 87%. There is no statistically significant difference among the genders. According to AUDIT only 3 female coaches were above the limit values of AUDIT which indicates dangerous alcohol addiction, but among males 21% was above this limit values. The good observation is that most of the points were collected on questions dealing with alcohol risky behavior and very few of coaches get points on those questions indicating that harmful consequences were already experienced. Concerning the smoking habits it was found that 25% of the female coaches and 19.7% of the males are smokers. The majority of females stated that that they are smoking between 5 and 10 cigarettes per day, while among the males dominate those who are smoking from 10 to 20 cigarettes per day. Although this study is showing somewhat lower values of smokers and coaches consuming alcohol than some previous studies conducted in Croatia it is still troubling number especially in the view that coaches are, through their education, well informed about the harmful effects of smoking and alcohol and that they are appearing as authoritative figures to those seeking guidance or information.

substance ; sport coaches ; health

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