The development of nutritional-supplement fact sheets for Irish athletes: a case study.
The use of sport supplements presents a dilemma for many of those involved in supporting athletes, including coaches, families, support staff, and the athletes themselves. Often the information that they source can be incorrect and promote a biased view regarding the use of nutritional supplements. The aim of this case study was to describe the process that occurred around the development of a series of targeted educational fact sheets on a range of nutritional supplements for Irish athletes. It describes the initiation and support of the process by the Irish Sports Council; one of its subgroups, the Food and Food Supplements Committee; and the Irish Institute of Sport. A needs assessment through questionnaires was carried out to establish the most commonly used sport nutrition supplements by athletes age 16 or over in Ireland. Respondents completed 105 questionnaires over a 4-mo period in 2008-09 that led to the production of 20 supplement fact sheets. These supplement fact sheets will enable Irish athletes to access high-quality, up-to-date, scientific information about the supplements they have reported consuming. Since personal reading had a strong influence over athletes' decision-making process for taking nutritional supplements, as did scientific research, fact sheets available on the Internet from a reliable source are an ideal way to educate Irish athletes.
Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Australia.
Kate L
KL
Pumpa
Sharon M
SM
Madigan
Ruth E
RE
Wood-Martin
Richelle
R
Flanagan
Noreen
N
Roche
D022126:Access to Information; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D056352:Athletes / Q000193:education; D003657:Decision Making; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007494:Ireland; D008297:Male; D052756:Nutritional Sciences; D013177:Sports; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult