Prevalence of Problem Gambling Among Women Using Shelter and Drop-in Services

Abstract

People experiencing poverty/homelessness have higher rates of problematic gambling than the general population. Yet, research on gambling among this population is sparse, notably among women. This study examined prevalence of problematic gambling among women using shelter and drop-in services in Ontario, Canada. The NORC Diagnostic Screen for Disorders was administered to women during visits to 15 sites using time/location methodology. Within a sample of 162 women, the prevalence of at-risk (6.2%), problem (9.3%), and pathological gambling (19.1%) was higher than the general population. Among women who scored at-risk or higher, 55.4% met criteria for pathological gambling. The findings suggest that women seeking shelter and drop-in services are vulnerable to problematic gambling. Creating awareness of this vulnerability within the shelter and drop-in service sector is an important first step to support women with gambling problems who face financial and housing precarity.

Online 8-week cognitive therapy for problem gamblers: The moderating effects of depression symptoms and perceived financial control

“…Dependent variable: NODS. The self-report National Opinion Research Center DSM Screen for Gambling Problems (NODS; Gerstein et al, 1999) is a 17-item scale where dichotomous items are summed according to specific instructions (Hodgins, 2004;Matheson et al, 2021; maximum score 5 10 points). We analyzed NODS as a continuous variable (Figs 1 and 2 highlight the cut-off values.).…”

The Prevalence of Problem Gambling and Gambling Disorder Among Homeless People: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis

“…1). Eight publications were found to be eligible (Gattis & Cunningham-Williams, 2011;Matheson et al, 2014Matheson et al, , 2021Nower et al, 2015;Pluck et al, 2015;Sharman et al, 2015Sharman et al, , 2016Wieczorek et al, 2019) (for information on articles rejected in full-text screening see Online Resource 3). They were published between 2011 and 2021 and conducted in five different countries: Japan (Pluck et al, 2015), Poland (Wieczorek et al, 2019) and two each in Canada (Matheson et al, 2014(Matheson et al, , 2021, the US (Gattis & Cunningham-Williams, 2011;Nower et al, 2015) and the UK (Sharman et al, 2015(Sharman et al, , 2016.…”

“…Data on a total of 1938 homeless individuals was included by these surveys. For 1527 (77.0%) participants, information on gender was provided, identifying 1179 (77.2%) as male and 348 (22.8%) as female (Gattis & Cunningham-Williams, 2011;Matheson et al, 2021;Nower et al, 2015;Pluck et al, 2015;Sharman et al, 2015Sharman et al, , 2016Wieczorek et al, 2019). A mean age of 46 years (Nower et al, 2015;Pluck et al, 2015;Sharman et al, 2015Sharman et al, , 2016Wieczorek et al, 2019) was reported in 1213 (61.1%) participants.…”

“…Five studies utilized instruments for the diagnosis of PG/GD according to definitions by different versions of DSM criteria which refer to it as "pathological gambling" (Gattis & Cunningham-Williams, 2011;Matheson et al, 2014Matheson et al, , 2021Nower et al, 2015;Pluck et al, 2015). The Computerized Gambling Assessment Module (C-GAM) (Cunningham- Williams et al, 2003), the NORC Diagnostic Screen for Disorders (NODS) (Hodgins, 2004) and an Assessment of Gambling Problems as proposed by Ricketts & Bliss (Ricketts & Bliss, 2003) are based on DSM-IV criteria for "pathological gambling", the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) on DSM-III and DSM-III-R criteria (Lesieur & Blume, 1987).…”

Commentary on Vandenberg et al.: The next step of developing and testing evidence‐based interventions for older adults who experience problem gambling and homelessness

“…Studies find that women favour different forms of gambling than men (e.g. electronic gaming machines and on‐line gaming), therefore indicating a potential need to screen for and treat problem gambling in women and men differently [10,11]. In the future, researchers could work with older adults with lived experience of homelessness and problem gambling to design and test population‐specific screening tools and interventions that consider the implications of gender and sexual identity on gambling behaviours.…”