{"id":11770,"date":"2025-11-07T06:00:39","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T05:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/?p=11770"},"modified":"2025-11-14T17:47:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T16:47:55","slug":"mobile-app-review-for-the-canned-beverage-sorting-task-an-online-assessment-tool-for-athletes-accuracy-in-avoiding-unintentional-doping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/2025\/11\/07\/mobile-app-review-for-the-canned-beverage-sorting-task-an-online-assessment-tool-for-athletes-accuracy-in-avoiding-unintentional-doping\/","title":{"rendered":"Mobile App Review for The Canned-Beverage Sorting Task: An Online Assessment Tool for Athletes\u2019 Accuracy in Avoiding Unintentional Doping"},"content":{"rendered":"

Name of the Application<\/strong>: Canned-Beverage Sorting Task (accessible here: http:\/\/www.derwinchan.com\/Canned-Beverage-Sorting-Task-mobile-devi<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Category of the mobile application: Sport<\/strong><\/p>\n

Platform<\/strong>: Android, iOS, Windows, macOS.<\/p>\n

Cost<\/strong>: Free<\/p>\n

About the App<\/h2>\n

Unintentional doping happens when athletes inadvertently violate the anti-doping code of the World Anti-Doping Agency. Accidentally consuming supplements or energy products that contain (or contaminated with) banned substances is often regarded as the main reason behind unintentional doping (Barker et al., 2025). The Canned Beverage Sorting Task is a web-based tool that assesses athletes\u2019 accuracy in identifying which beverages are safe to consume without risking anti-doping rule violations. <\/span><\/p>\n

The task measures how accurately athletes can identify beverages containing banned substances and whether they avoid products without clear ingredient labels. Initial evidencesuggests that the task is negatively associated with athletes\u2019 implicit doping attitude (Chan et al., 2025), which may relate to doping behavior (Brand et al., 2014; Petr\u00f3czi et al., 2008).<\/p>\n

How it works<\/h2>\n

The task itself consists of 8 different beverage items: some are safe (do not contain any banned performance-enhancing substances) while others are unsafe (banned performance-enhancing substances are present) canned-beverages (see Figure 1). Each beverage appears four times in a random order, creating in 32 total trials.<\/p>\n

Each beverage appears individually and can be examined using the zoom function (pinch-to-zoom for smartphone users, and double clicking\/scrolling for computer users).<\/p>\n

Figure 1: Canned-beverage sorting task stimuli (8 variations)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Figure 2: Example of the canned-beverage sorting task.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Participants then categorise each beverage as either \u201ccan drink\u201d or \u201ccannot drink\u201dbased on the ingredients list (see Figure 2). Mobile users can touch the left\/right boxes on the screen to respond, whereas computer users can use the arrow keys \u201c\u2190\u201d and \u201c\u2192\u201d on the keyboard. Beverages that contain banned performance-enhancing substances or lack a clear ingredients list should be marked as \u201ccannot drink\u201d (Chan et al., 2015; Chan et al., 2025), while those free from banned performance-enhancing substances should be marked as \u201ccan drink\u201d. Instant feedback is provided if the answer is incorrect.<\/p>\n

At the end of the task, an automatically generated test result displays the total number of correct responses (see Figure 3). Participants can record their participant ID to access their results later and download raw-score data in Excel format (.CSV file) directly.<\/p>\n

Figure 3: Example results of the canned-beverage sorting task.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Results and use for clinical practice\/research<\/h2>\n

Previous research examining unintentional doping avoidance used a natural experimental design in which athletes were offered an unfamiliar brand of lollipop (Chan et al., 2015). Building on lollipop protocol, the current canned-beverage task offers a more user-friendly alternative for assessing athletes\u2019 responses when exposed to beverages that may contain banned performance-enhancing substances.<\/p>\n

As a web-based tool, it requires no actual substance consumption, eliminating the risk of unintentional doping during assessment. This tool effectively simulates real-life decision making and can be administered remotely without face-to-face interaction or specialized computer software. As such, it has strong potential for both clinical and research applications in unintentional doping prevention.<\/p>\n

Pros: <\/strong><\/p>\n