Long-term effectiveness of a gambling intervention program among children in central Illinois

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 2; p. e0212087
• Main Authors: Ren, Jinma, Moberg, Kirk, Scuffham, Heidi, Guan, Dongming, Asche, Carl V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 11.02.2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Addiction; Addictions; Addictive behaviors; Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior - physiology; Analysis; Behavior Therapy - methods; Behavior Therapy - organization & administration; Biology and Life Sciences; Child; Children; Compulsive gambling; Computer and Information Sciences; Counseling - methods; Counseling - organization & administration; Efficiency, Organizational; Elementary school students; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Gambling; Gambling - epidemiology; Gambling - prevention & control; Gambling - therapy; High schools; Humans; Illinois - epidemiology; Intervention; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Oaks; People and Places; Presentation graphics software; Prevention; Prevention programs; School Health Services - organization & administration; Social Sciences; Students; Students - psychology; Students - statistics & numerical data; Surveys; Teenagers; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome; Young adults; Illinois; United States > US; Macao
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0212087

Youth gambling is an increasing concern. As a response, the "Don't Gamble Away our Future (DGAOF)" program has been implemented among children in central Illinois. We aim to assess the long-term effectiveness of this school-based youth gambling prevention program in Illinois using the data from 2005 to 2009. The intervention included interactive PowerPoint presentations and prevention materials in parent packets. Students aged 8 to 18 years were eligible to participate in the intervention and the questionnaire pre-post knowledge tests (total score 0-9). Students in 5th grade and above also received a gambling behavior screen test using the Modified South Oaks Gambling Screening for Teens (MSOGST) for identifying probable gamblers. Multivariable generalized mixed models were conducted to detect the effects of a 5-year youth gambling prevention program as controlling potential confounders. A total of 16,262 and 16,421 students completed pre-post tests and MSOGST tests, respectively. Of 16,262, half were female, the majority (76.1%) were from senior high school, and 21.3% received the intervention at least twice. The median gap between interventions was 368 days. Students receiving multiple interventions had higher scores on the pre-test as compared to those receiving a single intervention (P<0.001 for all comparisons among groups), and they demonstrated an increasing trend of awareness about gambling over time (P<0.001 for multiple interventions; P = 0.538 for single intervention). The prevalence of problem gambling had decreased among students receiving the intervention twice as compared to receiving the intervention once (7.9% versus 9.4%; OR = 0.89, 95% CL: 0.82-0.97). However, this effect was not confirmed among students receiving the intervention three or more times. In conclusion, the DGAOF program has demonstrated a positive long-term impact on increasing gambling knowledge and partially reducing pathological gamblers through direct training. It suggests that multiple repeated interventions are important for youth gambling prevention.