University of Lethbridge researchers conduct gambling study for rural Albertans

Researchers have started a new study that offers free online counselling for rural and remote people struggling with a gambling addiction.

It’s one of the most under-served demographics and often times people have a hard or difficult time making it into a major city centre for help.

That from Dr. Darren Christensen, the Alberta Gambling Research Institute Chair in Gambling and assistant professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences, he and his co-workers are looking to help those struggling with the addiction.

They’re testing a contingency management approach to treat problematic gambling.

“The idea of contingency management is to compete with the benefits, or the fun, people might derive from gambling,” he said. “One of the aspects that is most difficult about addiction is that you can drink, gamble, get high or have sex, and the reward is immediate. The difficulty in counselling is that the benefits accrue over time.”

Christensen says contingency management offers an immediate benefit, or reward, to the client for remaining abstinent.

“It uses our preference for immediacy, except we’re reversing it and providing a reason for participants to remain abstinent and still get something immediately,” he said. “The important issue is that you’ve got to provide people with things that they value as rewards, they have to be meaningful for them and if not, the rewards aren’t sufficiently strong enough to motivate change.”

He says the study operates on two fronts, contingency management approaches have been proven effective in substance abuse treatment but have not specifically targeted rural people. Secondly, by bringing counselling into the home via an online approach, it’s reaching a segment of the population that is often shut off from counselling resources and support.

The study is being funded by the Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Misuse and in cooperation with the Alberta Rural Development Network.

It’ll run 12 weeks and offer three counselling sessions a week.

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