NCRG Awards Research Grant For An Online Tool To Help College Students Assess Their Gambling Behavior

To continue its support of research to address gambling and gambling-related harms on college campuses, the National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) awarded a research grant of $171,561 to Clayton Neighbors, Ph.D., professor of psychology and director of the Social Influences and Health Behaviors Lab at the University of Houston, for the development and testing of an online screening and brief intervention (SBI) aimed at reducing gambling-related problems among college students. The SBI will be included on the NCRG’s website,www.CollegeGambling.org, which was developed as a tool to help higher-education institutions address gambling disorders and responsible gaming on campus.

If you follow Gambling Disorders 360˚, you know that the NCRG is committed to addressing pathological and youth gambling through peer-reviewed research and public education programs. In March, the NCRG took that commitment one step further by launching CollegeGambling.org, an online resource for college administrators, campus health professionals, students and their parents. By supporting Dr. Neighbors’ research, the NCRG will be able to provide an online tool that can be used by campus mental health professionals and students to help reduce rates of problem gambling on college campuses.

Dr. Neighbors and his research team will conduct a randomized controlled trial evaluating a Personalized Normative Feedback (PNF) intervention for college students with gambling problems. Research has demonstrated that PNF interventions have been successfully used to reduce rates of drinking on campus by showing students their misperceptions about student drinking behavior. Dr. Neighbors will translate this research and create an online screening instrument and brief intervention that aims to help reduce problem gambling by showing students their misperceptions of student gambling behavior. This free resource is expected to be available on CollegeGambling.org in 2013.

In a recent conversation with NCRG Chairman Glenn Christenson, he highlighted the need for a new tool such as the SBI to address gambling disorders. ‘Nearly all U.S. colleges and universities have policies on student alcohol use; however, only 22 percent have a formal policy on gambling,’ he said. ‘Students who admit to having a gambling problem sometimes find a lack of support on campus. The goal of the SBI will be to help college students assess their own gambling behaviors to determine if their gambling is likely to be harming their health or increasing their risk for future harm.’

For more information about college gambling or additional resources to bring problem gambling awareness to a college student or campus, visitwww.CollegeGambling.org. Do you have a question about the SBI or the NCRG’s other research funding opportunities? Please contact Christine Reilly, senior research director for the NCRG, atcreilly@ncrg.orgor leave a comment in the section below.

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