Developing a question to identify gambling harms to individuals or affected others and piloting it in three local authorities
Purpose
Many people in Britain gamble and do so without problem. But some individuals experience harms such as debt, mental and physical health problems and relationship difficulties. Friends and family of people with gambling problems are also harmed. Local Authorities are being asked by government to help people experiencing gambling harms, such as debt and money problems as well as mental health issues. But Local Authorities are not always sure how to identify people in need of help.
Working with GamCare, the UK's largest gambling support charity, and a team with different research skills and experience of gambling-related harm, we have been funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) under its Research for Social Care programme to test a question for use in three Local Authorities. We hope this will enable people identified as affected by gambling harms to help to get the support they need. It will also tell us more about gambling harms. There is increasing concern about the harms caused to individuals by gambling, to their families, and to wider communities.
Project duration
April 2021 - January 2023
Project funding
National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research for Social Care Programme (RE17877)
Research team
- Caroline Norrie (PI) and Professor Jill Manthorpe (NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and Care Workforce and NIHR ARC South London, King’s College London)
- Cat Forward (NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and Care Workforce)
- Anna Hemmings (GamCare)
- Dr Heather Wardle
- Dr Stephanie Bramley (University of York)
- Dr Emily Finch (South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and IoPPN, King’s College London)
- Frankie Graham (Betknowmore)
- Dr James Shearer (King’s Health Economics, King’s College London)
What the researchers will do
Phase 1 Development: We will look at the evidence about potential questions which are designed to see if a person might have problems gambling. This will help us develop some questions that might be possible for Local Authority staff to ask people. GamCare, Local Authority social care staff and members of the public will help us see what might work in practice.
Phase 2 Implementation: We will train staff in three Local Authorities to use the question with enquirers/service users and put people affected by gambling harms in touch with sources of help.
Phase 3 Evaluation: We will compare question responses across the three Local Authorities, see if asking the question is acceptable to enquirers/service users and staff, ask people about the training they had and if the question was easy to ask. We will ask Local Authorities what doing this cost them.
We hope our findings will be of use to Local Authorities and other people working in services that help people with gambling problems. We will tell people about our study findings and will also run a regular series of seminars to share knowledge. Please get in touch if you would like to be on the mailing list for this.
Gambling-related harms seminar series
5 May 2021: Dr Heather Wardle and Dr Emma Ryan
14 September 2021: Conversation with Frankie Graham and other experts by experience of Betknowmore gambling support charity on lived experience of gambling harms
29 November 2021: Dr Steve Sharman – Suicide and gambling.
8 June 2022: Women and gambling harms
More details on the seminar series webpage
Related projects at HSCWRU
-
Examining the nature of gambling-related harm for adults at risk [2016-17]
- Gambling-Related Harms Seminar Series
Publications
Forward, C., Norrie, C., Bramley, S., Wardle, H., Stuart, G., Dowridge, W., Nyandu, S., Parker, J., Shearer, J., Finch, E., & Manthorpe, J. (2022) Assessing potential brief screening questions for use within different social care-related contexts to identify individuals experiencing gambling-related harms: A scoping review. Health & Social Care in the Community. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13976
Conferences
Norrie, C., Forward, C., Wardle, H., Bramley, S., Finch E., Shearer, J., Riley, L., Webb, D., Manthorpe, J. (2023) Identifying gambling harms and supporting those at risk within adult social care, ARC South London Knowledge Exchange network event on 7th March 2023 Strand Campus, KCL (poster presentation).
Norrie, C., (2023) Gambling-related harms in adults with health and social care needs - Joint Southwark & Lambeth Mental Health carers forum. 31st January 2023.
Norrie, C., Forward, C., Wardle, H., Bramley, S., Finch E., Shearer, J., Riley, L., Webb, D., Manthorpe, J., Identifying gambling harms and supporting those at risk within adult social care (2022) Gambleaware Conference, The King’s Fund, London (poster presentation).
Bramley, S., Norrie, C., Forward, C., Wardle, H., Finch E., Shearer, J., Riley, L., Webb, D., Manthorpe, J., Identifying and Supporting People Affected by Gambling Harms in Local Authorities. University of York Research health and social care Conference. 13th July 2022.
Norrie, C., Forward, C., Wardle, H., Bramley, S., Finch E., Shearer, J., Riley, L., Webb, D., Manthorpe, J., Gambling-related harms in adults with health and social care needs, Fast Forward (Youthwork organisation specialising in risk-taking behaviours and early-intervention, Scotland) Webinar, May 26th 2022.
Norrie, C., Forward, C., Wardle, H., Bramley, S., Finch E., Shearer, J., Riley, L., Webb, D., Manthorpe, J., Identifying and Supporting People Affected by Gambling Harms in Local Authorities, Current Advances in Gambling Research (CAGR) Conference, Cardiff, May 19th & 20th 2022.
News
Knowledge exchange on the Strand campus
King's researchers Kritika Samsi and Caroline Norrie were at an NIHR ARC South London event

Unit researchers present work at GambleAware Conference
The conference focused on taking a public health approach to gambling harms

Money and mental health – talk at the Unit
The fifth seminar in a series deriving from the gambling study at the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce

Recent activity in gambling research at the Unit
Caroline Norrie and Stephanie Bramley have been disseminating research findings

Publications
Forward, C., Norrie, C., Bramley, S., Wardle, H., Stuart, G., Dowridge, W., Nyandu, S., Parker, J., Shearer, J., Finch, E., & Manthorpe, J. (2022) Assessing potential brief screening questions for use within different social care-related contexts to identify individuals experiencing gambling-related harms: A scoping review. Health & Social Care in the Community. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13976
Conferences
Norrie, C., Forward, C., Wardle, H., Bramley, S., Finch E., Shearer, J., Riley, L., Webb, D., Manthorpe, J. (2023) Identifying gambling harms and supporting those at risk within adult social care, ARC South London Knowledge Exchange network event on 7th March 2023 Strand Campus, KCL (poster presentation).
Norrie, C., (2023) Gambling-related harms in adults with health and social care needs - Joint Southwark & Lambeth Mental Health carers forum. 31st January 2023.
Norrie, C., Forward, C., Wardle, H., Bramley, S., Finch E., Shearer, J., Riley, L., Webb, D., Manthorpe, J., Identifying gambling harms and supporting those at risk within adult social care (2022) Gambleaware Conference, The King’s Fund, London (poster presentation).
Bramley, S., Norrie, C., Forward, C., Wardle, H., Finch E., Shearer, J., Riley, L., Webb, D., Manthorpe, J., Identifying and Supporting People Affected by Gambling Harms in Local Authorities. University of York Research health and social care Conference. 13th July 2022.
Norrie, C., Forward, C., Wardle, H., Bramley, S., Finch E., Shearer, J., Riley, L., Webb, D., Manthorpe, J., Gambling-related harms in adults with health and social care needs, Fast Forward (Youthwork organisation specialising in risk-taking behaviours and early-intervention, Scotland) Webinar, May 26th 2022.
Norrie, C., Forward, C., Wardle, H., Bramley, S., Finch E., Shearer, J., Riley, L., Webb, D., Manthorpe, J., Identifying and Supporting People Affected by Gambling Harms in Local Authorities, Current Advances in Gambling Research (CAGR) Conference, Cardiff, May 19th & 20th 2022.
News
Knowledge exchange on the Strand campus
King's researchers Kritika Samsi and Caroline Norrie were at an NIHR ARC South London event

Unit researchers present work at GambleAware Conference
The conference focused on taking a public health approach to gambling harms

Money and mental health – talk at the Unit
The fifth seminar in a series deriving from the gambling study at the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce

Recent activity in gambling research at the Unit
Caroline Norrie and Stephanie Bramley have been disseminating research findings


Principal Investigator
Caroline Norrie
Senior Research Fellow