![Sample our Health and Social Care journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5938/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Health-Social-Care.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
This article describes a study assessing the effectiveness of a gambling prevention programme, GameSense, in modifying gambling cognitions and intentions among university undergraduate students of diverse ethnicities (N = 122). Although GameSense is a widely used intervention, the effectiveness in modifying gambling cognitions and behaviours has not yet been demonstrated. In the present study, randomly assigned treatment participants completed the programme and then played a gambling game in which they could win tokens for a desired prize. Control participants played the game but did not receive the prevention programme. At the end of the game, all participants completed measures assessing gambling cognitions, immediate and future gambling intentions, and their desire to continue gambling. Programme participants showed increased knowledge about gambling, increased resistance to gambling fallacies, and fewer immediate and future intentions to continue gambling regardless of how much they won or lost, compared to the no-treatment control group. The present results indicate that the GameSense programme is effective in altering cognitions about gambling and immediate and future intentions to continue gambling. Results are discussed in terms of the modification of gambling cognitions following completion of the intervention programme and the changes in future gambling behaviour as a consequence of those changed cognitions.
Acknowledgements
The first author completed this article as an honours project supervised by the second and third authors. We would like to acknowledge the helpful comments from the editor and two anonymous reviewers on a previous draft of the manuscript.
Conflicts of interest Funding sources
There were no funding sources.
Competing interests
The authors declared no competing interests.
Constraints on publishing
There were no constraints on publishing.
Notes
1. Analysis of the SOGS measure revealed no significant main or interaction effects. None of the findings reported here were altered when SOGS score was used as a covariate with the exception of a positive correlation between SOGS and attitudes towards gambling r (122) = .194, p = .03. We do not discuss the SOGS variable further.
2. Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients for the scales used in this study were 0.61 (SOGS-RA), 0.14 (GKM), 0.47 (GFM) and 0.57 (ATGS-8).
3. The results reported above were unchanged when we repeated the same analysis with the break-even group eliminated. This suggests that the gambler’s fallacy was restricted to the control group participants. We would to thank an anonymous reviewer for suggesting this analysis.
4. A 2 (Treatment) x 3 (Outcomes) x 2 (Gender) analysis on each dependent variable showed only a significant effect for gender on gambling attitudes F(1, 110) = 4.66, MSE = 0.24, p = .03. Males reported more favourable (M = 3.01, SD = 0.49) attitudes than females (M = 2.77, SD = 0.48). There were no significant gender main effects or interactions for gambling knowledge and gambling fallacies.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Xiao Long Zhou
Xiao Long Zhou received his Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in psychology from Brandon University in 2018 and is currently applying to graduate schools in psychology.
Phillip N. Goernert
Phillip N. Goernert received his PhD in experimental psychology from Miami University in 1990. He is currently full professor of psychology at Brandon University where he teaches courses in research methodology and human memory.
Barry Corenblum
Barry Corenblum received his PhD in social psychology from the University of Saskatchewan in 1975. He is currently full professor of psychology at Brandon University where he teaches courses in social psychology, personality theory, prejudice and discrimination, and psychological assessment.