Research has shown that brief interventions, such as self-guided booklets and online self-help tools, can have a significant, positive impact for individuals dealing with substance-abuse and gambling problems.
According to a report in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal (“To Your Health: New Web Site Helps Predict Alcohol Problems”), the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has launched a new, interactive Web site called “Rethinking Drinking” to help individuals recognize problem drinking patterns before they become out of control. As reported in the article, Rethinking Drinking was developed with the new understanding that alcohol-use disorders exist in a spectrum—an understanding that some experts hope will replace the current criteria for “abuse” and “dependence.”
Harvard Medical School faculty and the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling created a similar science-based, self-help tool for individuals who may be considering changing their gambling behavior called “Your First Step to Change”—first as a booklet in 2002 and later as a Web-based guide. Your First Step to Change, which was developed with support from the National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) and the Massachusetts Department of Health, is utilized by thousands of individuals online every year, and also has been distributed in booklet form in Iowa, Massachusetts, Nevada and Pennsylvania. In addition, the guide was translated into Mandarin, Khmer and Vietnamese in 2008 to better serve individuals who speak these languages.
More information about research on gambling disorders and tools such as Your First Step to Change is available through the NCRG’s Web site—www.ncrg.org.
