Assessment Of Problem Gambling Research Articles

Treatment for problem gambling and counselors' perception of their clinical competence: a national web survey in Sweden.

Despite their crucial role in bridging science and practice, not much is known about counselors offering treatment for Problem Gambling (PG). This study maps current treatment, the type of change techniques that are prioritized in treatment and how counselors perceive their clinical competence in their workwith PG clients. A sample of PG counselors from the healthcare and social services (N = 188, mean age: 49years, 67% women) completed an online survey. A principal component analysis was conducted to map prioritized types of change techniques, and a multiple regression analysis was carried out to analyze predictors of counselors' role adequacy in their clinical work. There was a large variation in the type of treatments offered for PG (mean 3.6). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Motivational Interviewing were the most common treatments offered and motivation was rated as the most important type of change technique prioritized in the treatment of PG. A principal component analysis identified four components reflecting different types of change techniques prioritized by the counselors: (1) standard CBT, e.g., gambling cognitions, craving management, and finding alternative activities, (2) assessment of PG, (3) family orientation, i.e., involvement of concerned significant others in treatment, and (4) focus on exposure strategies. Counseling more clients monthly was associated with higher levels of willingness, adequacy and legitimacy in their clinical work with clients with PG. Additionally, offering CBT was a predictor for higher role adequacy and providing counseling on the origins of and consequences of PG. There was a large heterogeneity among the treatments offered and what change techniques that were prioritized among the PG counselors. Clinical experience is of importance for developing competence in treating clients with PG. This finding suggests there could be benefits to establishing specialized, more visible treatment units where PG counselors could gain adequate clinical experience, thus increasing clinical competence for treating PG.

Implicit Memory Associations and Gambling.

Associations that people report in response to words or phrases ('implicit associations') may provide information about their interest and engagement in certain activities that might not have been reported if they had been directed asked. The present study investigated the word and behavioural associations reported by 494 university undergraduates to words and phrases that could be construed as having gambling-related connotations. These reported associations were then related to each student's level of gambling involvement and his or her problem gambling status. Results showed there to be a significant positive relationship between the number of gambling-related memory associations and reported level of gambling involvement as well as problem gambling status. Behaviour associations tended to be stronger than word associations, suggesting that each type of association may tap into a different facet of associative memory. Associations with problem gambling status were also stronger than associations with level of gambling involvement. The results suggest that implicit associations may have utility in both the assessment of problem gambling as well as predicting future gambling involvement.

The relationship between memory associations, gambling involvement, and problem gambling

The current study aimed to examine the relationship between implicit memory associations, gambling involvement, and problem gambling in a large representative group of Canadian adults. The sample consisted of 3078 (48.1% males, mean age 43.93, SD = 15.82) adult online panelists from across Canada that included 388 problem and pathological gamblers. Memory associations were assessed using a 10-item measure of word associations and a 10-item measure of behavioural associations. Gambling involvement was assessed via self-report of involvement, and problem gambling was assessed using the Problem and Pathological Gambling Measure (PPGM). Significant associations were found between measures of memory associations and both level of gambling involvement and problem gambling, with the magnitude of the correlations ranging from 0.262 to 0.388. Behavioural associations tended to have a stronger relationship with gambling involvement and problem gambling than word associations. The results of this study suggest that implicit associations may have utility in the assessment of problem gambling.

Examining the Factor Structure of the Victorian Gambling Screen in Chinese Casino Workers

This study examined the factor structure of the 21-item Victorian Gambling Screen (VGS) and its 15-item Harm to Self (HS) Scale in order to address the need for a valid, reliable, and culturally-adaptive tool that would provide a harm-based assessment of problem gambling and identify pathological gambling among Chinese casino workers (N = 817) in Macau, where the economy relies heavily on gambling industry. Competing models of VGS, as well as competing models of HS Scale, were tested and compared using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and subsequent chi-square difference test. Moreover, the relationships of VGS and HS Scale factors with gambling behaviors (i.e., gambling frequency and amount spent in gambling) were investigated. Results revealed that: (1) the 3-factor model of VGS (enjoyment of gambling [EG], harm to self [HS], and harm to partner [HP]) and the 2-factor model of HS Scale (difficulty in impulse control and cognitive-emotional dissonance) best fit the data; (2) all factors of VGS and HS Scale, except for HP, were found to correlate with gambling behaviors; and (3) the association of EG with amount spent in gambling is stronger than its association with gambling frequency. The findings of the study support the validity and cross-cultural utility of the Victorian Gambling Screen in Asian, particularly Chinese, casino workers.

Sociodemographic predictors of latent class membership of problematic and disordered gamblers

This paper reports a series of analyses examining the predictors of gambling subtypes identified from a latent class analysis of problem gambling assessment data, pooled from four health and gambling surveys conducted in Britain between 2007 and 2012. Previous analyses have indicated that gambling assessments have a consistent three class structure showing quantitative and potentially qualitative differences. Bringing this data together is useful for studying more severe problem gamblers, where the small number of respondents has been a chronic limitation of gambling prevalence research. Predictors were drawn from sociodemographic indicators and engagement with other legal addictive behaviours, namely smoking and alcohol consumption. The pooled data was entered into a multinomial logistic regression model in which class membership was regressed along a series of demographic variables and survey year, based on previous analyses of gambling prevalence data. The results identified multiple demographic differences (age, general health, SES, being single, membership of ethnic minority groups) between the non-problem and two classes endorsing some problem gambling indicators. Although these two groups tended to share a sociodemographic profile, the odds of being male, British Asian and a smoker increased between the three groups in line with problem gambling severity. Being widowed was also found to be associated with the most severe gambling class. A number of associations were also observed with other addictive behaviours. However these should be taken as indicative as these were limited subsamples of a single dataset. These findings identify specific groups in which gambling problems are more prevalent, and highlight the importance of the interaction between acute and determinant aspects of impulsivity, suggesting that a more complex account of impulsivity should be considered than is currently present in the gambling literature.

Problem Gambling and Intimate Partner Violence

This study provides a systematic review of the empirical evidence related to the association between problem gambling and intimate partner violence (IPV). We identified 14 available studies in the systematic search (8 for victimisation only, 4 for perpetration only and 2 for both victimisation and perpetration). Although there were some equivocal findings, we found that most of the available research suggests that there is a significant relationship between problem gambling and being a victim of IPV. There was more consistent evidence that there is a significant relationship between problem gambling and perpetration of IPV. Meta-analyses revealed that over one third of problem gamblers report being victims of physical IPV (38.1%) or perpetrators of physical IPV (36.5%) and that the prevalence of problem gambling in IPV perpetrators is 11.3%. Although the exact nature of the relationships between problem gambling and IPV is yet to be determined, the findings suggest that less than full employment and clinical anger problems are implicated in the relationship between problem gambling and IPV victimization and that younger age, less than full employment, clinical anger problems, impulsivity, and alcohol and substance use are implicated in the relationship between problem gambling and IPV perpetration. The findings highlight the need for treatment services to undertake routine screening and assessment of problem gambling, IPV, alcohol and substance use problems, and mental health issues and provide interventions designed to manage this cluster of comorbid conditions. Further research is also required to investigate the relationship between problem gambling and violence that extends into the family beyond intimate partners.

Reliability and Validity of Three Instruments (DSM-IV, CPGI, and PPGM) in the Assessment of Problem Gambling in South Korea

Most research on the assessment, epidemiology, and treatment of problem gambling has occurred in Western jurisdictions. This potentially limits the cross-cultural validity of problem gambling assessment instruments as well as etiological models of problem gambling. The primary objective of the present research was to investigate the reliability and validity of three problem gambling assessment instruments within a South Korean context. A total of 4,330 South Korean adults participated in a comprehensive assessment of their gambling behavior that included the administration of the DSM-IV criteria for pathological gambling (NODS), the Canadian Problem Gambling Index (CPGI), and the Problem and Pathological Gambling Measure (PPGM). Cronbach alpha showed that all three instruments had good internal consistency. Concurrent validity was established by the significant associations observed between scores on the instruments and measures of gambling involvement (number of gambling formats engaged in; frequency of gambling; and gambling expenditure). Most importantly, kappa statistics showed that all instruments have satisfactory classification accuracy against clinical assessment of problem gambling conducted by South Korean clinicians (NODS κ = .66; PPGM κ = .62; CPGI κ = .51). These results confirm that Western-derived operationalizations of problem gambling have applicability in a South Korean setting.

The classification accuracy of four problem gambling assessment instruments in population research

Improved methodology was used to re-examine the weak correspondence between problem and pathological gamblers identified in population surveys and subsequent classification of these individuals in clinical interviews. The SOGS-R, the CPGI, the NODS and the Problem and Pathological Gambling Measure (PPGM), as well as questions about gambling participation and expenditures, were administered to a total of 7272 adults. Two clinicians then assessed each person's status, based on comprehensive written profiles derived from these questionnaire responses. Instrument classification was then compared to clinical classification. All four instruments correctly classified most non-problem gamblers (i.e. had good to excellent sensitivity, specificity and negative predictive power). However, the PPGM was the only instrument with good classification of problem gamblers (i.e. excellent sensitivity and positive predictive power). The CPGI and SOGS-R had weak positive predictive power and the NODS had only adequate sensitivity and positive predictive power. Improvement in the classification accuracy of the CPGI occurred when a 5+ cut-off was used and when a 4+ cut-off was used with the SOGS. In general, the classification accuracy of the NODS, SOGS and CPGI is better than prior research suggested but overall accuracy is still modest. With adjusted cut-offs, all three instruments are reasonably congruent with clinical ratings.

Assessment of Problem Gambling in a Chinese Context: The Chinese G-MAP

There is a severe lack of instruments to assess problem gambling in Chinese people. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Maroondah Assessment Profile for Problem Gambling (Chinese G-MAP), based on the responses of eight problem gamblers and 125 pathological gamblers seeking help from a problem gambling treatment center. Reliability analyses showed that the G-MAP and its related domains and scales were generally internally consistent. There are also several lines of evidence suggesting that the Chinese G-MAP and the various domains are valid: (a) the various G-MAP domain and scale measures were significantly correlated among themselves, (b) the G-MAP measures were significantly correlated with pathological gambling behavior assessed by the 4th Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), and (c) the G-MAP total scale and domain measures were able to discriminate problem gamblers and pathological gamblers. The present study suggests that the Chinese G-MAP possesses acceptable psychometric properties that can be used in research and practice settings.