It is well known that individuals who experience problems with gambling are not accessing treatment. In order to better understand why women who gamble problematically aren’t accessing treatment, Boughton & Brewster (2002) conducted a study entitled “Voices of Women Who Gamble in Ontario: A Survey of Women’s Gambling, Barriers to Treatment and Treatment Needs”. What this study provides us with is information directly from women, who gamble, about what actual and/or perceived barriers exist to accessing treatment for problem gambling.
Boughton & Brewster (2002) asked the women in their study, what might make it difficult to use treatment services if gambling began to cause problems in their lives. The results are divided into five categories:
- Thoughts About Treatment Services
- Concerns About Comfort and Safety in Treatment
- Personal Feelings and Thoughts
- Thoughts About Gambling
- External Obstacles to Accessing Treatment
1. Thoughts About Treatment Services
The women had many mistaken beliefs about treatment services. As seen in Table 5, while over half of the women believed that they would be required to give up all gambling, over one third did not know of available services.
|
57% |
I believe that I would have to give up all gambling and I don’t want to. |
|
46% |
I think that treatment services are only for women who are having very serious problems. |
|
41% |
I don’t know what to expect from treatment. |
|
38% |
I don’t know about gambling services available to help. |
Table 5: Thoughts about treatment services.
2. Concerns About Comfort and Safety in Treatment
Almost half of the women indicated that they would not feel comfortable or safe attending a treatment program. As seen in Table 6, specific reasons for concerns varied.
|
29% |
I worry about confidentiality. |
|
27% |
I don’t like talking about myself. |
|
26% |
I don’t like groups. |
|
25% |
I worry about discrimination. |
|
22% |
Others (family/partner/friends/employer) might learn of my gambling. |
|
21% |
I am shy and anxious talking to people I don’t know. |
Table 6: Concerns about comfort and safety in treatment.
3. Personal Feelings and Thoughts
The women also identified a number of personal thoughts and feelings as obstacles to seeking help. As seen in Table 7, almost three quarters of the women believed that they should be able to make changes on their own.
|
73% |
I think I should be able to make changes on my own. |
|
66% |
I think I can make changes on my own. |
|
34% |
I fear I might be criticized or judged |
|
33% |
I feel a lot of embarrassment and shame about the gambling. |
|
32% |
Asking for help would be admitting that I am unable to consistently control my gambling behaviour. |
|
30% |
I don’t want to deal with the issue so tend to avoid or deny it. |
|
28% |
I don’t like the label “problem gambler”. |
|
25% |
I feel too overwhelmed by other things to do this. |
|
25% |
I don’t want to admit defeat - that I can’t come out ahead with gambling. |
Table 7: Personal feelings and thoughts.
4. Thoughts About Gambling
The women identified some specific thoughts about gambling that would prevent them from accessing services. As seen in Table 8, the most common belief was that gambling gave them hope that problems would be resolved.
|
59% |
I keep hoping for the Big Win that will resolve the problems. |
|
48% |
I have times when I have been able to stop or limit my play. |
|
41% |
Gambling gives me hope that things can improve in my life. |
|
38% |
I’m not hurting anybody else. |
|
35% |
I love to gamble. |
|
30% |
I can stop any time I want. |
|
30% |
I don’t (or no longer) drink or do other things that can cause problems. |
|
30% |
Gambling is my only break from things. |
|
29% |
I feel a lot of pressure around money. I need to keep playing to pay my debts or get ahead. |
Table 8: Thoughts about gambling.
5. External Obstacles to Accessing Treatment
Finally, a number of practical barriers to accessing treatment were identified: health concerns, travel constraints, time constraints, money issues and childcare concerns. Specifics are detailed in Table 9.
|
Physical or Mental Health Concerns |
24% |
|
|
18% |
|
|
16% |
|
|
6% |
|
|
5% |
|
Travel Constraints |
19% |
|
|
15% |
|
|
11% |
|
Time Constraints |
34% |
|
|
21% |
|
|
18% |
|
|
7% |
|
Money Issues |
33% |
|
|
26% |
|
|
16% |
|
|
11% |
|
Childcare Concerns |
|
|
|
9% |
- No one to leave child with
|
5% |
Table 9: External obstacles to accessing treatment.
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