Studien undersökte hur de tre demografiska variablerna kön, ålder och civilstatus samt de fem grundläggande personlighetsdimensionerna extraversion, vänlighet, samvetsgrannhet, neuroticism och öppenhet  relaterar till spel om pengar samt att börja spela i tidig ålder. Detta gjordes utifrån fem frågeställningar. 163 personer besvarade en enkät. Materialet undersöktes genom att utföra Pearson korrelationskofficienter samt t-test. Slutsatserna som drogs i studien var att män spelar mer samt börjar spela tidigare än kvinnor. Personligheten har ej någon påverkan på spel om pengar. Däremot fungerar samvetsgrannhet som en skyddsfaktor mot att börja spela om pengar i tidig ålder. Det noterades även att spel om pengar i tidig ålder är en riskfaktor för att utveckla ett problematiskt spelande. Studien påvisade en skillnad i personlighetsdimensionerna, där kvinnor har högre grad av neuroticism än män.  Slutligen noterades det att 7% av respondenterna i studien har ett problematiska spelande, vilket är i linje med tidigare forskning.

Background & objective Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Motivational Interviewing (MI) have been the treatment of choice for problem or pathological gambling in the field in Western countries, and their efficacy has been supported by a considerable empirical research. Alternative treatments are little known; and such treatments for minority ethnic populations have been scarce. This study adopted Kazdin‘s procedures for assessing the acceptability of treatments (Kazdin, 1980a, 1980b, 1981) to test alternative treatments of problem or pathological gambling as a part of the broadening of treatment choices. This thesis presented 2009 survey results from counselling service providers in New Zealand on the acceptability of alternative treatments to problem or pathological gambling. The thesis, therefore, reports the responses of counsellors to counselling vignette case examples, not the views of actual clients viewing counselling. Methods The survey pack was distributed to counselling service providers in New Zealand. The survey included descriptions of sixteen vignettes of case examples of counselling treatments. Categories of clients in the vignette case examples included two genders (male, female) and three ethnicities (Pakeha, Maori, and Asian). Four counselling treatment conditions were selected from Solution-Focused Brief Counselling (SFBC), SFBC+Multicultural Counselling (SFBC+MC), Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and Motivational Interviewing (MI). CBT and MI were only administered to Pakeha clients for the purpose of comparison of the alternatives. Two measurements were used. The first a modified Problem Gambling Treatment Evaluation Inventory (TEI) was used to measure the acceptability levels of the alternative treatments for problem or pathological gambling. The Cross-Cultural Counselling Inventory-Revised (CCCI-R) was used for measuring the perceived cross-cultural competency of counsellors depicted in the vignette case examples. Findings Counsellors‘ ratings of the vignette case examples revealed the following findings: Measurement 1: Problem Gambling Treatment Evaluation Inventory (TEI). Overall, 1) The survey results of TEI questionnaires showed significant main effects across the four treatment conditions and the three client ethnicities, and there was no difference according to client genders. 1.1) SFBC+MC and SFBC were slightly more acceptable than CBT, and much more acceptable than MI. 1.2) The TEI scores for Pakeha clients were much higher than for Maori clients, and the scores for the Asian clients were in between. 2) There was a significant interaction effect between the four treatments and the three client ethnicities. 2.1) For Maori clients: SFBC+MC was much more acceptable than SFBC; for Pakeha clients: SFBC+MC was the most acceptable, closely followed by SFBC, CBT, then MI; and for Asian clients: SFBC was more acceptable than SFBC+MC. 2.2) SFBC+MC was most acceptable to Maori clients across all treatments and ethnic groups. 2.3) The variation in acceptability ratings for SFBC was larger than for SFBC+MC in Maori and Asian clients, and less variable in Pakeha. 2.4) Maori clients had the largest mean variation between SFBC and SFBC+MC, and Pakeha clients had the smallest mean variation. Measurement 2: Cross-Cultural Counselling Inventory-Revised (CCCI-R). The survey results of the CCCI-R showed significant main effects across the four treatment conditions and the three ethnicities. 1) The counsellors depicted in the vignette case examples under the SFBC+MC treatment condition were rated with the highest mean competence score and least variability across all the treatments and the ethnicities, the MI treatment condition were rated with the lowest mean score, CBT and SFBC were in between. 2) The counsellors described in the vignette case examples were rated more culturally competent with Pakeha clients and Maori clients than with Asian clients in the vignette case examples, the rating levels for both Pakeha and Maori were similar. 3) The Maori client in the vignette case examples had the largest mean gap between SFBC and SFBC+MC, and Pakeha client in the vignette case examples had the smallest mean gap. Clinical implications The tests of the acceptability of alternative treatment for problem or pathological gambling could provide useful information about 1) whether the above alternatives would be recommended or selected by the counselling service providers in their clinical practice, 2) which treatment would be more/less preferred by which ethnic group, 3) whether it would work or be worth the efforts to introduce or promote the above alternatives to the counselling service providers, 4) what needs to be explored for increasing levels of the acceptability of alternative treatment to problem or pathological gambling, 5) adding training in the techniques to counsellors training programme and curricula. The limitation of this study was discussed and future research was suggested.

Skadligt bruk är ett brett begrepp som omfattar många olika former av bruk, till exempel av alkohol, droger eller spel om pengar vilket kan påverka arbetsprestationen negativt hos en arbetstagare. På uppdrag av Folkhälsomyndigheten ville man värdera verkningsgraden av genomförda utbildningsinsatser kopplat till problematiskt spelande. Syftet med den här studien är att kvalitativt utvärdera upplevelser av genomförda utbildningsinsatser som organisationen Alna genomfört kring skadligt bruk med fokus på spelproblem. Tematisk analys användes och datainsamling skedde genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med tio HR-medarbetare, vars fem organisationer ingick i utbildningsprojektet Spel och spelförebyggande insatser för arbetslivet. Resultatet visar att Alnas metoder och verktyg upplevs som effektiva och värdefulla av undersökningsdeltagarna. Vissa hinder för effektiv implementering av uppdaterade policys och riktlinjer identifierades och dessa kunde bestå av tidsbrist, underbemanning eller eftersatt prioritering av spelfrågan. Vidare framgår det att Alnas utbildningsinsatser främjat utformandet av policys och riktlinjer kring skadligt bruk med fokus på spel och spelproblem i organisationerna. / The complex concept regarding harmful use of different nature, could be related to the use of alcohol, drugs or gambling. Such activities could affect the efficiency and productivity of an employee in a workplace environment in a negative way. At the request of the Public Health Agency of Sweden, a group of scientist was given the task to evaluate a project regarding education concerning problematic gambling. The purpose of the current study is to evaluate a project regarding education concerning gambling and gambling prevention, and was carried out by the organization Alna. Thematic analysis was used and collection of data was done with semi structured interviews, with ten HR-employees whose five organisations was included in the project Gambling and gambling preventive efforts directed towards the labour market. The results show that the methods and tools used by Alna is perceived as efficient and valuable by the participants. Some obstacles which works against efficient implementation of updated policies and guidelines were identified and these could consist of time constraints, under staffing or subordinated priority of the gambling issue per se. Furthermore it seems that the education project regarding gambling prevention performed by Alna has contributed to the development of policies and guidelines regarding harmful use of different kinds with focus on the gambling issue. / Utvärdering av projektet Spelförebyggande Insatser för Arbetslivet – Praktisk Tillämpning och utvärdering.