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p lines have been a common first line of intervention for addictive disorders for many years with successful statewide tobacco help lines leading the way. While there has been research on gambling help lines since the 1990s, to our knowledge there has not been a study tracking help-line callers from their initial call to attendance at a counseling session – until now. With the percentage of people with a gambling disorder who seek treatment from a counselor, psychologist or self-help group such as Gamblers Anonymous at only between 7 and 12 percent (Slutske, 2006), the ability of a help line to promote attendance at a counseling session is vitally important. A new study published inPsychology of Addictive Behaviorsprovides data on the matriculation of people with gambling disorders from calling the help line to attending a counseling session and suggests potential best practices for increasing the number of callers seeking treatment (Weinstock et al., 2011).

Research Results

The researchers tracked data from more than 2,900 unique callers to the West Virginia Problem Gamblers Help Network (WVPGHN) from 2000 to 2009. The sample consists of all callers who were offered a referral for an in-person assessment and excludes people who did not qualify because they were not West Virginia residents, were calling inappropriately (i.e. prank calls) or their calls ended prematurely. Of the 2,900 callers who were offered a referral for treatment, 75 percent accepted the referral. Of that 75 percent, 72 percent attended the in-person assessment. Overall, 55 percent of people who were offered an in-person assessment by the help line staff attended the session.

Best Practices

The researchers suggest some methods for increasing assessment attendance. For example, the WVPGHN used a “warm transfer” method for referrals wherein the caller stayed on the line as the help line staff called a local clinician and scheduled an appointment. The “warm transfer,” along with other methods, such as scheduling the appointment within 72 hours of the call, have been shown to increase the caller’s attendance at the in-person assessment.

There are also demographic and clinical factors that influence whether or not callers attended the assessment. For example, callers with more severe problems and callers who may have been coerced to call (due to legal problems or pressure from a family member) were more likely to accept the referral and attend the session. Gender also played a role in attendance, with women being more likely to call the help line and make an appointment, but men more likely to attend the session. The researchers hypothesize that female callers may have more unstable home environments, a factor that can cause them to miss appointments with greater frequency (e.g. because of an inability to secure childcare or transportation).

More information about the article is available on thePsychology of Addictive Behaviors‘ website. Do you have thoughts or questions? Is there anything that you think would increase the number of people who seek treatment for gambling disorders? Let us know in the Comments section below.

References

Slutske, W. S. (2006). Natural recovery and treatment-seeking in pathological gambling: results of two U.S. national surveys.American Journal of Psychiatry,163(2), 297-302. doi:163/2/297 [pii] 10.1176/appi.ajp.163.2.297

Weinstock, J., Burton, S., Rash, C. J., Moran, S., Biller, W., Krudelbach, N., Phoenix, N., et al. (2011). Predictors of engaging in problem gambling treatment: Data from the West Virginia problem gamblers help network.Psychology of Addictive Behaviors: Journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors. doi:10.1037/a0023240

*Photo by Flickr creative commons user willy_ochayaus

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There are many exciting new developments regarding continuing education credits for the12thannual NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction! Last week, we announced that the NCRG is anAPA-approved continuing education sponsor. We just heard the news that the Employee Assistance Certification Commission (EACC) has also approved the 12th Annual NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction for 13 professional development hours.

The EACC is the credentialing governance body responsible for upholding all professional standards, policies, and procedures concerning the Certified Employee Assistance Professional (CEAP) credential. The EACC operates under the Employee Assistance Professional Association (EAPA), the world’s largest and oldest membership organization for employee assistance professionals. With members in over 35 countries around the globe, EAPA is the world’s most relied upon source of information and support for and about the employee assistance profession. For more information on the EAPA, visithttp://www.eapassn.org/.

Stay tuned for more information about the NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addictions as additional accreditations are announced. Make sure you subscribe to theGambling Disorders 360˚ blog by typing in your email address into the submission box on the right column of this page. You can also follow the NCRG onFacebookorTwitterfor the latest news and information about the NCRG!

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The National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) is pleased to announce that we are now approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. We are very excited for this new accreditation option! This achievement enhances the NCRG’s ability to offer advanced training, webinars and workshops on gambling addiction to the APA’s more than 154,000 members.

Organizations approved by the APA to provide continuing education opportunities must pass a rigorous review by the APA’s 14-member Continuing Education Committee to ensure that the highest level of quality is maintained in program planning, management and delivery. Participants who took part in yesterday’s NCRG webinar session “CollegeGambling.org: A New Resource for Campus Professionals” are eligible for one hour of continuing education credit through the APA. This new approval will also be available for the 12thannual NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction from October 2 – 4, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nev., upcoming 2011 NCRG Webinar Series and regional treatment provider workshops that will be announced in the coming weeks.

Glenn Christenson, chairman of the NCRG, is also very excited about this development. He said:

“The APA’s approval of the NCRG as a continuing education sponsor will allow the NCRG to assist and train more psychologists and other treatment providers with programs based on the highest quality, peer-reviewed research on pathological and problem gambling. It is a tremendous opportunity for the NCRG to further fulfill its mission to encourage the application of new research findings to improve prevention, diagnostic, intervention and treatment strategies.”

Stay tuned for more information about trainings and workshops that will be announced for 2011. Make sure you subscribe to theGambling Disorders 360blog by typing in your email address into the submission box on the right column of this page. You can also follow the NCRG onFacebookorTwitterfor the latest news and information about the NCRG!

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Click below for the NCRG blog team’s exclusive interview with Dr. Matthew Martens, associate professor of educational, school and counseling psychology at the University of Missouri, Columbia. Nathan Smith, program officer for the NCRG, sat down with Dr. Martens to discuss brief interventions for problem gambling and gives advice to campus health professionals on how to address gambling and gambling-related harms on campus.

Dr. Martens will be presenting his research on gambling among college students at next week’sNCRG Webinartitled “CollegeGambling.org: A New Resource for Campus Professionals”. Ryan Travia, director of alcohol and other drug services at Harvard University, will also speak about the NCRG’s new resource, CollegeGambling.org, and how college administration and campus health professionals can use the materials on college campuses.

Make sure you register for the NCRG webinar, taking place Wednesday June 1, 2011 from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. EST! The webinar is free and has been approved for one hour of continuing education credit by various organizations. To register for the webinar session and learn more about continuing education credit offerings, please visitthe Webinar registration page. As always we welcome your thoughts and questions in the comments section below.

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Last week, the American Psychological Association (APA) sponsored a“Mental Health Blog Party”where they encouraged everyone to blog about what mental health means to them, either as individuals or mental health professionals. More than 130 blogs were posted and more than 500 people participated on Twitter (hashtag#mhblogday), with topics ranging from depression and bipolar disorder to advising parents on how to talk to their children about drug and alcohol abuse. One concept that resonated throughout the wide variety of topics was the public’s misperception and stigma associated with mental health issues. The same is true for the field of gambling disorders. Even though pathological gambling was not addressed by any blogger for the APA’s blog party, we believe it is important for it to be a part of the conversation.

Rates of those who have experienced gambling disorders are often questioned, even though researchers have published their findings in high-quality peer-reviewed publications about this matter. In a 1999 report, the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences confirmed Harvard Medical School’s Division on Addictions results that the prevalence of pathological gambling in the U.S. adult population is approximately 1 percent. (National Research Council, 1999). In 2008, researchers from the Harvard Medical School Department of Health Care Policy found that the lifetime prevalence rate of 0.7 percent for pathological gambling and 2.3 percent for problem gambling (Kessler et. al., 2008).

The debate over whether or not pathological gambling is a chronic disorder is also somewhat confusing for the general public and media. Recent research suggests that pathological gambling may not necessarily become more severe over the years. Some individuals may improve or worsen over time, all depending on their level of gambling disorder (LaPlante, D.A. et all, 2008).

Another misperception happens when pathological gambling is viewed as its own singular battle and not connected to other mental health issues. As with all other addictive behaviors, people who struggle with gambling problems tend to have other psychological problems such as depression or anxiety. Because of this fact, it is difficult to separate the two or determine if one disorder has more influence over another. The Harvard Medical School’s Department of Health Care Policy discovered that those with any psychiatric disorder are 17.4 times more likely to develop pathological gambling than those without such problems. This result was from the researchers’ analysis of the National Comorbidity Survey Republication (NCS-R), a landmark study of mental health in America that conducted face-to-face interviews with 9,982 individuals (Kessler et. al., 2008).

Regardless of commonly held beliefs about gambling disorders, it is critically important to weigh the misperceptions and stigmas of the disorder against empirical and published research on the matter. As theNational Association of Mental Illness, Massachusetts Chapterblogged, “the stigma ends when we end it.” The NCRG will be a part of the next large gathering of mental health professionals and bloggers, helping to facilitate the conversation about gambling disorders and assist an understanding of the research that is available.

Do you have a comment or question about pathological gambling, it’s comorbidity with other mental health issues or just general resource needs for the NCRG team? Leave us a comment below or connect with us onFacebookorTwitter!

References

Kessler, R.C., Hwang, I., LaBrie, R.A., Petukhova, M., Sampson, N.A., Winters, K.C., & Shaffer, H.J. (2008).DSM-IVpathological gambling in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication [Electronic Version].Psychological Medicine,1-10. Advance online publication. Retrieved February 7, 2008. Doi:10.1017/S0033291708002900.)

LaPlante, D.A., Nelson, S.E., LaBrie, R.A., & Shaffer, H.J. (2008). Stability and progression of disordered gambling: Lessons from longitudinal studies.The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 53,52-60.

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The National Center for Responsible Gaming has grown in staff and offerings over the past few months. We are certain you have noticed our new resourceCollegeGambling.org. You also know about our new presence on Twitter (@theNCRG) and the expanded NCRG Webinar Series (make sure you sign up for theJune 1 webinar!). We are also working to reach out to mental health treatment providers with valuable training opportunities, and we will keep you posted on those developments.

With these exciting events and more that are happening, we asked ourselves: Do our blog readers know the people behind all of the work at the NCRG? Let us introduce ourselves!

Christine Reilly, Senior Research Director

Christi

ne ‘s role is to administer the NCRG’s research grant programs and coordinate educational activities such as the annual NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction and theEMERGE Trainingprogram(Executive, Management, and Employee Responsible Gaming Education). From 2000 to 2009, Christine served as the executive director of the Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders. She also was the first executive director of the National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG), from 1997 to 2000.

Prior to the NCRG, Christine served as executive director of the Missouri Humanities Council, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. She was appointed to the Missouri Governor’s Literacy Task Force and LIFT-Missouri, a non-profit organization focused on adult literacy. She also served as associate director of the Alabama Humanities Foundation and director of continuing studies for the Vanderbilt University Divinity School. She received her B.A. from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College,magna cum laude, and an M.A. in American religious history at Vanderbilt University.

Nathan Smith, Program Officer

Nathan’s interest in addiction treatment stems from his experiences growing up with a family member affected by addiction. Nathan has seen first-hand the struggles that addiction bring not just to the person who is addicted, but to their family and friends as well. He takes particular interest in pathological gambling because it somewhat bridges the research gap between the addictions perceived as more “traditional” like alcohol or drug dependence and newer, less understood behavioral addictions.

Nathan received his B.A. in sociology from Azusa Pacific University and is currently at Harvard University pursuing a Master of Liberal Arts in Psychology at the Extension School, while taking classes at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Public Health. Nathan hopes to complete his thesis project on public health approaches to suicide prevention in the coming year and wants to continue his education by pursuing a Ph.D.

Amy Martin, Communications and Outreach Manager

Amy’s responsibilities with the NCRG include increasing the NCRG’s traditional and social media presence, building relationships with the NCRG’s key partners and reaching out to new audiences who need information and resources about treatment and prevention of gambling disorders. Her main interest is to communicate the latest research on pathological gambling and help others apply those research findings in practical ways through outreach efforts. She is the newest member of the NCRG team, so please say hello to her at theNCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction.

Before the NCRG, Amy has worked to build community and expand communications efforts in non-profit organizations such as the National Indian Education Association, International Center for Journalists and the American Cancer Society. She has a communications strategy consultancy, which included work for the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars, a national recognition program produced by the U.S. Department of Education. She received her B.A. in psychology from Kansas State University and her M.A. in public relations from Louisiana State University.

Have a comment or question for the NCRG team? Leave us a comment below or connect with us onFacebookorTwitter!

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Did you know that the National Center for Responsible Gaming hasallocated more than $700,000to fund research that advances our understanding about gambling disorders in 2011? The last opportunities to apply for this year’s funding are quickly approaching. Start planning to submit your letter of intent for Large Grants and Early Stage Investigator Grants before the July 1, 2011 deadline.

Large Grants

The Large Grants program provides up to two years of support for discrete, specified, circumscribed research projects related to gambling disorders. Applicants may request up to $75,000 in direct costs per year for a period not to exceed 24 months. The NCRG expects to award two Large Grants in this funding cycle.

Last year’s awardees are doing fascinating research. Dr. Matthew P. Martens (who will be a featured speaker during the NCRG Webinar on June 1, 2011) is testing a personalized feedback-only intervention for “at-risk” college students to see if the feedback information will influence their gambling behavior. Dr. John Nyman is studying the differentiating factors between people who are recreational gamblers with no gambling-related problems and people who are pathological gamblers.

To apply, download thegrant announcementandapplication form. Submit your letter of intent by July 1, 2011.

Early Stage Investigator Grants

The Early Stage Investigator Grants program is intended to help ensure that a pool of highly trained scientists is available to address the research needs of the field of gambling disorders. Eligible applicants are within 10 years of completing their terminal research degree or within 10 years of completing medical residency. Applicants may request up to $65,000 in direct costs for a period not to exceed 24 months.

Applications for this award must propose a research plan that:

  1. Has intrinsic research importance in the area of prevention and treatment of gambling disorders, and
  2. Will serve as a suitable vehicle for learning the methodology, theories and concepts needed for a well-trained, independent researcher in the area of gambling research.

To apply, download thegrant announcementandapplication form. Submit your letter of intent by July 1, 2011. The NCRG expects to award one Early Stage Investigator Grant in 2011.

For more information on the application process, please visit theNCRG Research Centeror contact Christine Reilly, Senior Research Director, atcreilly@ncrg.org. You can also find examples of previously funded studies on ourFunded Project Grantspage.

Questions or comments? Leave them in the comments section below!

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The NCRG’s 2011 Webinar Series continues with its upcoming free session titled “College Gambling: A New Resource for Campus Professionals” on June 1, 2011 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EDT. The session will be valuable to anyone who works with college students on a day-to-day basis, as well as those who research gambling disorders in youth and young adults. Register today byclicking hereor visiting theNCRG’s upcoming webinar session website.

According to the latest research, approximately 75 percent of college students gamble annually, whether legally or illegally, and about 6 percent developed a severe gambling problem. However, only 22 percent of U.S. colleges and universities have a gambling policy. To address this gap, the NCRG createdCollegeGambling.orgto provide free resources to schools interested in developing comprehensive policies and programs designed to reduce gambling-related harm.

Christine Reilly, the NCRG’s senior research director, will moderate this webinar that will describe the latest research about college gambling and gambling problems among college students, introduce CollegeGambling.org and explain the resources available on this site for college administrators, campus student health professionals, college students and their parents.

This session will also include two speakers who are greatly involved in research with gambling disorders or campus awareness programs for college students:

  • Matthew Martens, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Educational, School and Counseling Psychology at the University of Missouri. Dr. Martens is currently working on NCRG-funded research to develop a personalized feedback intervention aimed at reducing gambling problems among college students.
  • Ryan Travia, M.Ed., Director of Alcohol and Other Drug Services at Harvard University. Mr. Travia is a member of the CollegeGambling.org Advisory Committee and the NCRG Task Force on College Gambling Policies.

As always, sessions are provided free of charge. This session has been approved forone hour of continuing educationby:

  • NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals (provider #737)
  • The California Foundation for Advancement of Addiction Professionals (provider #OS-02-26-1111)
  • The California Board of Behavioral Sciences (for MFT and LCSW licensure requirements in California) (Approval #PCE 4619)
  • The National Board for Certified Counselors (provider #6474)

Have a question about the upcoming webinar or about CollegeGambling.org? Make sure to leave us as comment below!

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Exploring New Trends in Recovery, Research and Responsible Gaming
​Sept. 30 – Oct. 2, 2012
A redefinition of recovery, health care reform, an emerging minority population, new treatment approaches, the growth of online gambling – These trends directly impact the way we treat, prevent and study gambling disorders and responsible gaming. The evolving landscape makes this an exciting time and challenging for clinicians, public health workers, researchers, regulators and the gaming industry worldwide.  The 2012 NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction examined these topics by translating the most up-to-date research into practical applications for prevention, recovery, research and responsible gaming. Conference sessions addressed the latest changes in health care delivery systems, the science of recovery, the use of brief interventions, the impact of Internet gambling, public and private funding issues, ways to serve the cultural needs of minority populations and more.

The past year has brought with it a unique shift in health care policies and mental health diagnostic codes, ultimately impacting the field of gambling and addictive disorders. From the Affordable Care Act to the highly-anticipated American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-5, these changes are driving conversations and raising questions about their impact on recovery from and prevention of addiction.

How will the Affordable Care Act impact mental health services — and will insurance cover treatment for gambling disorders? How has research on brain activity enhanced our understanding of how addiction should be diagnosed and treated? How can we make responsible gaming programs more effective and more widely known? What are the implications of a new diagnostic code on health care providers and researchers specializing in gambling disorders? Are addiction treatment providers properly trained to address gambling disorders? How are researchers experimenting with communications technology to reach young adults?

The 14th annual NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction examined these questions and more as stakeholders from around the world gathered to discuss how these topics impact the way we approach gambling disorders and responsible gaming.