GambleAware, the United Kingdom’s eminent independent charity, committed to gambling harm treatment, education, prevention, and intervention, has introduced a new Regulatory Settlement Funded Research Programme. It aims to fund a research project introducing a new framework for gambling-associated harm in the country.
As GambleAware’s introduction to the programme states, the organization aims to commission the establishment of a new framework appropriate for a “holistic assessment of gambling harms and changes in harms over time”. It needs to perform adequately in a diverse selection of communities and environments.
The project should tackle detected issues with the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) regarding gambling harm screening and evaluation. Additionally, it should rely on and adjust the findings of frameworks that have been introduced across other jurisdictions and similar policies concerned with substance abuse and mental health issues.
The framework needs to be suitable for assessment and aftermath evaluation across clinical and non-clinical environments. It also needs to be effective in raising awareness of gambling harms among wider stakeholders. The application of measurable components would be necessary for the evaluation of the “variation in total harms by population group, or by different economic contexts or policy regimes.”
GambleAware also notifies prospective applicants that the project should take into consideration and improve the Gambling Survey for Great Britain. The latter is delivered by the UK’s gambling regulatory body and collects relevant information on the prevalence of gaming, betting, and playing in the country. The successful applicants would be required to closely cooperate with the Gambling Commission so that the findings of the survey could be successfully implemented into the programme.
GambleAware Lists Key Requirements for Successful Application
In addition to the detailed explanation of the project’s goals, GambleAware lists the key requirements that successful applicants must conform to. They are expected to have a well-established reputation for “undertaking research developing empirical tools”. The candidates should also be knowledgeable of “how gambling harms are experienced and measured” with particular emphasis on engagement with a diverse range of communities as well as their appropriateness for real practice.
To accomplish the purpose of the programme, the successful applicants need to apply mixed methods as well as an appropriate approach that would fit diverse sectors.
As an additional requirement, GambleAware states that the research must resort to the findings of its study “Frameworks and Measurement of Gambling Related Harm”. As the charity organization explained, the said study considered closely individual behaviour and failed to address multiple socio-environmental factors affecting gambling-related harms. The proposed programme thus aims to remedy these disadvantages and simultaneously resort to its findings.
The project’s budget amounts to £297,900 (being a grant, VAT does not apply) over a period of 18 months.
- Author
Daniel Williams
