Can Gambling Affect Vulnerable Adults?

Can Gambling Affect Vulnerable Adults?

Researchers at King's College London are conducting a study to identify whether or not gambling affects adults with care needs and they are looking for contributions from social care professionals.

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For many, gambling is seen as a fun, social activity and the majority of people participating remain unharmed. However, this isn’t the case for everyone. Participating in gambling activities, such as betting, bingo, scratch-cards, or fruit machines can become addictive and result in people uncontrollably spending excessive amounts of money.

In an attempt to delve into this further, the researchers have conducted a study called ‘Adults at risk and gambling: exploring the nature of gambling-related harm’ which has been broken down into three parts. Firstly, a scoping review into the nature of gambling related harms for adults at risk was written. Secondly, interviews were carried out with key informants from charities, health care professionals and third sector organisations trained to support people with gambling addictions.

The study is currently in phase three, which is where you can get involved. The researchers are looking to speak to people who work within adult social care and in particular those of you who have experience of working in safeguarding, mental health, addictions, housing and domestic abuse services.

All interviews will be held in confidence and a time and a place will be arranged to talk to you. This may be over the phone or face-to-face. They do not wish to talk about individual cases. If you would like to be interviewed, or discuss taking part, please contact: stephanie.bramley@kcl.ac.uk, caroline.norrie@kcl.ac.uk or jill.manthorpe@kcl.ac.uk.

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