(Press-News.org) TORONTO, May 21, 2014 – Homeless clients using services at Toronto's Good Shepherd Ministries are nearly nine times more likely to have a history of problem or pathological gambling than the general population, a new study from St. Michael's Hospital has found.
"Intuitively, one might think there's a connection between problem gambling and homelessness but very few studies have explored this in any depth.," said Dr. Flora Matheson, a research scientist with St. Michael's Centre for Research on Inner City Health. "By doing this kind of research, we help community organizations to better understand their clients and provide more holistic, effective treatment."
The findings, published in the June issue of Journal of Gambling Studies, looked at the prevalence of problem gambling and pathological gambling among 254 clients at Good Shepherd.
Good Shepherd – a community-based organization in Toronto – provides a range of services for homeless clients. Its administrators were concerned that an organizational focus on substance addiction and mental health issues might mean that gambling was a "blind spot" for its staff.
Of the 254 interviewed at Good Shepherd, 35 per cent indicated that at some point in their lives they had been either a problem or pathological gambler. The prevalence of gambling in the general population is around 0.6 to 4 per cent.
"Toronto shelters now have a sense of how important screening for gambling history is among people who are homeless," said Dr. Matheson. "Further research is still needed to know whether similar rates exist across the country or the globe."
Dr. Matheson suggests shelters should consider implementing screening for gambling as part of intake. Organizations that identify similarly high rates of problem gambling could then improve services by:
Training staff on the signs of gambling addiction
Equipping staff with referral resources for gambling addiction programs
Forming partnerships with organizations that offer gambling addiction programs
Considering potential in-house responses to gambling addictions
Gambling was defined as betting money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome – such as horse races, dice, scratch cards, bingo or even a card game with friends. While gambling can be a harmless pastime for some, for others it can become an addiction affecting daily life.
Those who experience gambling as a harmful addiction are often classified as problem gamblers and have difficulty limiting money or time spent on gambling. There are varying degrees of problem gambling but pathological gambling is the most severe form; an example would be when money is spent gambling rather than on basic life necessities such as food or shelter.
A plain language report detailing the research collaboration between Good Shepherd and the Centre for Research on Inner Health was also launched today.
INFORMATION:
About St. Michael's Hospital:
St. Michael's Hospital provides compassionate care to all who enter its doors. The hospital also provides outstanding medical education to future health care professionals in 27 academic disciplines. Critical care and trauma, heart disease, neurosurgery, diabetes, cancer care, care of the homeless and global health are among the Hospital's recognized areas of expertise. Through the Keenan Research Centre and the Li Ka Shing International Healthcare Education Centre, which make up the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, research and education at St. Michael's Hospital are recognized and make an impact around the world. Founded in 1892, the hospital is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.
Media Contact:
For more information, or to arrange an interview with Dr. Matheson, contact
Geoff Koehler
Adviser, Media Relations
St. Michael's Hospital
416-864-6060 ext. 6537
koehlerg@smh.ca
Gambling history is common among homeless people in Toronto, new study
2014-05-21
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
New method for propulsion in fluids
2014-05-21
CAMBRIDGE, Mass-- Researchers at MIT have discovered a new way of harnessing temperature gradients in fluids to propel objects. In the natural world, the mechanism may influence the motion of icebergs floating on the sea and rocks moving through subterranean magma chambers.
The discovery is reported this week in the journal Physical Review Letters by associate professor of mechanical engineering Thomas Peacock and four others. The finding was an unexpected outcome of research on other effects of temperature differences, such as the way winds form over glaciers in a valley, ...
A new way to harness waste heat
2014-05-21
CAMBRIDGE, Mass-- Vast amounts of excess heat are generated by industrial processes and by electric power plants; researchers around the world have spent decades seeking ways to harness some of this wasted energy. Most such efforts have focused on thermoelectric devices, solid-state materials that can produce electricity from a temperature gradient, but the efficiency of such devices is limited by the availability of materials.
Now researchers at MIT and Stanford University have found a new alternative for low-temperature waste-heat conversion into electricity — that ...
Very distant galaxy cluster confirmed
2014-05-21
Pasadena, CA— The structures and star populations of massive galaxies appear to change as they age, but much about how these galaxies formed and evolved remains mysterious. Many of the oldest and most massive galaxies reside in clusters, enormous structures where numerous galaxies are found concentrated together. Galaxy clusters in the early universe are thought to be key to understanding the lifecycles of old galaxies, but to date astronomers have located only a handful of these rare, distant structures.
New research from a team led by Carnegie's Andrew Newman has confirmed ...
Skinny lens makes cheap surveillance camera for home use
2014-05-21
WASHINGTON, May 21, 2014—Dark alleys might not feel so dangerous someday thanks to a new ultra-thin type of lens, which could pave the way to making smaller and cheaper heat-sensing imagers. A team of French researchers has found a way to make a thermal infrared (IR) camera with a lens made of silicon, a much less expensive material than is commonly used today.
The new silicon lens is as thick as a fingernail with a diameter less than that of a No. 2 pencil. Although its resolution is not superb, the lens is good enough to reveal the presence of a person and some general ...
Novel RNAi therapy silences mutated Huntington's disease gene and reduces symptoms
2014-05-21
New Rochelle, NY, May 21, 2014—A targeted gene silencing strategy blocks production of the dysfunctional huntingtin (Htt) protein, the cause of Huntington's disease, a fatal, inherited neurodegenerative disorder. The effectiveness of this RNA interference (RNAi) approach in reducing levels of mutant Htt protein and disease symptoms in a mouse model of the disease is described in Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Human Gene Therapy website.
Lisa Stanek and coauthors from Genzyme (Framingham, ...
Questions raised about physio for hip osteoarthritis
2014-05-21
Hip osteoarthritis is a prevalent and costly chronic musculoskeletal condition. Clinical guidelines recommend physiotherapy as treatment, although its effectiveness has never been proven.
Now, a study led by the University's Professor Kim Bennell has found that among adults with painful hip osteoarthritis, physical therapy does not produce greater improvements in pain or function compared with a placebo treatment.
In an article published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association, Professor Bennell and her colleagues randomly assigned patients with ...
In your genes: Family history reveals predisposition to multiple diseases
2014-05-21
The family history screening questionnaire can be used to provide insight into people's susceptibility to breast, ovarian, bowel and prostate cancer, melanoma, ischaemic heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
These findings will lead to greater insight into the process of preventative treatment for cancer in primary care and provide a cost-effective intervention for tailored disease prevention in Australian primary care..
Lead researcher Professor of Primary Care Cancer Research at the University of Melbourne Jon Emery said this research is the first of its kind to validate ...
Finnish researchers discovered a new anticancer compound
2014-05-21
A team of research scientists from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the University of Turku and the University of Eastern Finland has discovered a previously unknown Cent-1 molecule that kills cancer cells. Their research also shows that new cancer drug candidates can be identified faster and at lower cost by using computer-assisted and cell-based screening of compounds.
The objective of the research project led by Marko Kallio, Principal Scientist at VTT, was to accelerate the drug development process by identifying new compounds that would possess similar binding ...
Personalizing revascularization strategy for STEMI patients is vital, EuroPCR panel finds
2014-05-21
21 May 2014, Paris, France: A Great Debate at EuroPCR 2014 saw experts discussing the role of the two most valuable strategies to save the lives of ST-segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) patients: primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and thrombolysis.
Both these are effective treatments that actively save lives, and when there is no option for primary percutaneous coronary intervention, thrombolysis is the way to proceed, participants heard. The topic of the Great Debate, 'Primary PCI for STEMI: an emergency!' was selected ahead of the session ...
EuroPCR 2014 showcases technological advances in complex cardiovascular interventions
2014-05-21
St Jude Medical's Nanostim device and Medtronic's Micra, both single-chamber leadless pacing systems, and the most advanced commercially available valve, the Edwards Sapien 3 Transcatheter Heart Valve (Edwards Life Sciences) featured in the discussions.
With regard to leadless pacing, participants heard that there was a need for a novel system that provides reliable pacing and sensing, and addresses the challenges of current pacing systems by minimising the risks of infection, pneumothorax, dislodgement and long-term infection.
Prof Panos Vardas, University Hospital ...