Abstract

Performance and Image Enhancing Drugs (PIEDs) are a cause of concern for those seeking to reduce health harms and associated transgressive behaviour. This form of behaviour is associated with moral disengagement and is collectively used to refer to acts that can have negative interpersonal consequences (Kavussanu, 2019). Moral disengagement (Bandura 1991) refers to cognitive mechanisms that separate our moral values from our actions, resulting in behaviour that conflicts with our moral values. This model has been used to theorise the use of PIEDs for occupational performance gains - for instance, in the police or in private security- with the development of the psychometric Moral Disengagement for Occupational Gains Scale. In this investigation, 84 participants (34 PIED and 50 Non-PIED users) from 10 occupations completed an online questionnaire, shared via social media. The questionnaire was based on an 8-factor model proposed by Bandura et al. (1996), with items adapted from validated scales investigating doping in sport. Twenty items measured the following factors: Moral Justification, Euphemistic Labelling, Advantageous Comparison, Diffusion of Responsibility, Distortion of Consequences and Displacement of Responsibility. Participants completed the questionnaire using a 7-point scale (1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree). The Moral Disengagement for Occupational Gains Scale (MDOGS) has demonstrated initial psychometric properties that support the use as a valid and reliable measure of moral disengagement for research into the use of PIEDs in an occupational context.