Comparative Study of Awareness and Knowledge of Doping Tests between University Students from Two Majors Related to Doping Control Officer Duties

Doping practices in sports are becoming increasingly sophisticated, highlighting the need for professionally trained doping control officers.As the demand for blood doping tests has increased, the recruitment process, which previously imposed no restrictions on the academic major, has been revised to recruit only licensed clinical laboratory technologists qualified to perform blood collection.On the other hand, the suitability of these recruitment criteria and the role of clinical laboratory science expertise in doping control practice remain unclear.This study compared the awareness and procedural knowledge of doping control among 154 students majoring in clinical laboratory science and physical education, disciplines closely related to the recruitment of doping control officers.Students majoring in clinical laboratory science showed relatively higher levels of job-related knowledge of doping control but lower levels of awareness.Therefore, the professional competencies required of doping control officers may be closely associated with their pre-analytical management capabilities, adherence to international standards, the assurance of sample integrity, and an understanding of related legal and procedural responsibilities.In this context, this study is meaningful because it provides foundational data for future discussions.