Harm Reduction for Gambling A Public Health Approach

This edited volume aims to facilitate the evolution of the new public health approach towards gambling. Bringing together the work of international experts, it gives a current overview of the field, highlighting the need for a coordinated framework of prevention and harm reduction measures to replace current "player protection" measures.

Chapters begin by exploring the impact of problem gambling, looking at its effects on several levels, ranging from the individual to the family and society. Subsequently an overview of prevention and harm reduction models is presented, bringing the reader to an in-depth understanding of what a public health approach to gambling would entail. Later chapters focus on potential challenges to monitoring and evaluation, inviting the reader to envisage possible barriers towards implementation and ways of overcoming these. The book concludes with recommendations on how to take a harm reduction approach, from a political and human rights perspective.

This work gives a rare synopsis of the present-day issues when considering the implementation of a harm reduction strategy for gambling. Recent work by key professionals is presented in order to encourage further developments in this ever-changing domain. Such issues will be relevant to all those with an interest in the field of problem gambling, from clinicians, students and healthcare professionals, to politicians.

Preface

Nady el-Guebaly

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Cheryl Dickson, Caroline Dunand, Olivier Simon, Henrietta Bowden-Jones

Section 1: Impact and current understanding of gambling disorder

Chapter 1: Gambling and democracy

Peter Adams

Chapter 2: Measuring harm from gambling and estimating its distribution in the population

Matthew Browne

Chapter 3: The social cost of excessive gambling

Claude Jeanrenaud, Mélanie Gay, Dimitri Kohler, Jacques Besson, Olivier Simon

Chapter 4: The normalisation of dangerous gambling: An ethical issue

Jim Orford

Chapter 5: Family members affected by excessive gambling

Jim Orford

Chapter 6: Neurocognitive components of gambling disorder: Implications for assessment, treatment and policy

Juan F. Navas, Joël Billieux, Antonio Verdejo-García, José C. Perales

Section 2: Harm reduction models and initiatives

Chapter 7: Defining harm reduction as part of a public health approach towards gambling

Olivier Simon, Jean-Félix Savary, Gabriel Guarrasi, Cheryl Dickson.

Chapter 8: Effective harm minimisation practices: Public health implications

Darren R. Christensen

Chapter 9: Harm prevention and reduction efforts in gambling disorder: An international perspective

Charles Livingstone

Chapter 10: The role of treatment in reducing gambling-related harm

David C. Hodgins, Magdalen Schluter

Chapter 11: Public health and gambling: The potential of nudge policies

Magaly Brodeur

Chapter 12: Early detection of at-risk gambling to reduce harm

Suzanne Lischer

Chapter 13: Behavioural tracking in gambling: The use and efficacy of online responsible gambling tools

Mark D. Griffiths

Section 3: Challenges to evaluation and monitoring

Chapter 14: A logical framework for the evaluation of a harm reduction policy for gambling

Jean-Michel Costes

Chapter 15: Is income derived from problem gambling a good assessment indicator of a responsible gambling strategy?

Jean-Michel Costes

Chapter 16: Challenges of online gambling for risk and harm reduction

Louise Nadeau, Magali Dufour, Richard Guay, Sylvia Kairouz, Jean-Marc Ménard, Catherine Paradis

Conclusion

Cheryl Dickson, Caroline Dunand, Olivier Simon, Henrietta Bowden-Jones

Index

Henrietta Bowden-Jones is a Medical Doctor specialised in Addiction Psychiatry. She is the Founder and Director of the National Problem Gambling Clinic, UK and President of the Medical Women's Federation. She is an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College.

Cheryl Dickson has a Doctoral Degree in Clinical Psychology. She specialised post-qualification in the field of problem gambling and has worked since 2009 for the Centre du jeu excessif (Centre for Excessive Gambling), Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland.

Caroline Dunand is a Psychologist who has worked for over ten years as a Research Fellow at the Centre du jeu excessif (Centre for Excessive Gambling), Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland.

Olivier Simon is a Psychiatrist with a Master of Public Health Degree. He is Head of the Centre du jeu excessif (Centre for Excessive Gambling), Lausanne University Hospital, and Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Biology and Medicine at University of Lausanne, Switzerland.