GAMBLING DISORDERS 360°

Recovering from addiction is all about changing one’s behavior. Anyone who has tried to diet, quit smoking or get off the couch and exercise knows that changing behavior can be very challenging. It is especially true for individuals struggling with an addictive disorder.

One way to measure the success of a research study is to calculate its influence on the field. The Web of Science is an online index of peer-reviewed publications that monitors the number of times a particular article is cited in other publications. A count of how many times a paper is referenced can be used as a rough estimation of the impact of a study on the field, although it is not a measure of quality.

Recovering from addiction is all about changing one’s behavior. Anyone who has tried to diet, quit smoking or get off the couch and exercise knows that changing behavior can be very challenging. It is especially true for individuals struggling with an addictive disorder. To assist people with changing their abuse of alcohol and drugs, specialists in addiction have developed motivational interviewing (MI), a widely disseminated clinical approach that uses a directive, client-centered counseling style for eliciting behavior change by helping clients to explore and resolve ambivalence about changing the addictive behavior (Miller & Rose, 2009). The development and testing of the original concept was led by William R. Miller, Ph.D., Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Mexico.

Research has shown successful outcomes when MI is employed by alcohol and drug counselors. But what about disordered gambling? This month’s Issues & Insightswill focus on the origins of motivational interviewing, its principles and how David Hodgins, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University of Calgary in Canada, is testing this approach with disordered gamblers.

Sunday's third general session at the 11th annual NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction focused on an innovative approach to connecting health care providers and researchers with people in under-served communities.

Linda Cottler, Ph.D., professor of of epidemiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, presented “HealthStreet: An Innovative Strategy for Involving Under-served Populations in Research on Gambling and Other Disorders.” The HealthStreet program, which began in the 1990s as an HIV treatment program housed in a rundown movie theater, has expanded to collect data on dozens of health measures, while connecting people to health resources and research studies in every corner of St. Louis.

The 11^th annual NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction moved to the Las Vegas Convention Center yesterday where Global Gaming Expo (G2E), the premier trade show and conference event for the international gaming entertainment industry, is currently taking place. During a session yesterday morning, a panel made up of industry operators and manufactures and a state association representative discussed ways to make the most of responsible gaming awareness weeks. 

Click below for the NCRG Blog Team interview with Sarah Nelson, Ph.D., an associate director for research at the Division on Addictions at Cambridge Health Alliance, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and an instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Nelson discusses internet gambling and self-exclusion.

Click here for the NCRG Blog Team interview with Cheryl Currie, a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta, Canada, and winner of the NCRG’s 2010 Outstanding Poster award.  Cheryl discusses her research and her experience at the NCRG conference.

The NCRG has named David C. Hodgins, Ph.D., professor of psychology and adjunct professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Calgary, the recipient of the 2010 Scientific Achievement Award in recognition of his significant contributions to the field of disordered gambling research. The award was presented at a luncheon on Nov. 15 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino during the 11^th annual NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction.

A Sunday-evening breakout session at the 11^th annual NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction focused on the effectiveness of behavioral strategies and pharmacological (drug) treatments for disordered gambling.

The 11^th annual NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction held a plenary session today that looked at problem gambling among diverse populations, as problem and pathological gambling prevalence rates vary between racial/ethnic groups. One of the presenters, Renee Cunningham-Williams, Ph.D., M.P.E, LCSW, associate professor at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, applauded the NCRG and the Institute for holding a session on problem gambling and diverse populations, as it isn’t a topic that is frequently presented at conferences.