Strong (49) - Alberta Gaming Research Institute

49. CONVERSATIONS OF CHANGE? EXAMINING GAMBLERS' HELP-SEEKING AND CHANGE-SUSTAINING CONVERSATIONS
Project Approved 2007-08

Dr. Tom Strong (Principal Investigator)
Division of Applied Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Calgary

Reaching out for help can be a huge step for people with serious concerns like problem gambling. What gets accomplished in their first help-seeking conversations, and in subsequent conversations within their primary and professional relationships, may have a profound bearing on turning problem gamblers' lives (and those they share) around. The proposed research examines these initial and subsequent conversations for what transpires from them by conducting five in-depth case studies of gamblers in the context of conversational relationships to which they turn. These case studies will be supplemented (where possible) by analyses of actual change-oriented conversations and by examining changes reflected in each primary participant's discourse across four research interviews over the course of a year. In most cases, the people to whom the primary co-researchers turn will also be interviewed. The aim of the study is to better explain the role and accomplishments of conversation in gamblers' efforts in initiating and sustaining changes in addressing addictive gambling behaviours.

Status (Complete)

Data was collected and analyzed for use in several conference presentations, a student’s honours thesis, and for 2 manuscripts currently under review. An overview of the research was presented to the U. of Calgary Faculty of Education Research Annual Research conference in September 24, 2008. Posters were presented at the Banff Conference on Internet Gambling (2009, March) and at the Institute’s Emergent Clinical Issues in Problem Gambling conference (2010, April).

Scholarly Articles or Working Papers:

Strong, T. (under review). Approaching problem gambling with a discursive sensibility.

Strong, T., & Mudry, T. (under review). Problem gamblers’ recovery stories under conversational construction.

Scholarly Conference Papers:

Strong, T., French, J. R., & McKenzie, M. (2010, April). Conversations of change? Examining gamblers’ help-seeking and change-sustaining conversations. Poster presented at the Emergent Clinical Issues in Problem Gambling conference – Alberta Gaming Research Institute.

Strong, T., & Mudry, T. (2010, April). Motivational interviewing and Solution-focused counselling for problem gamblers: Practicing in a medically oriented mental health context. Poster presented at the Emergent Clinical Issues in Problem Gambling conference – Alberta Gaming Research Institute.

Strong, T., & Anderson, M. (2009, October). Accounting for clients’ conversational agency. Presentation to the Advances in Qualitative Methods conference. Vancouver, Canada. Powerpoint available on request.

Strong, T., Anderson, M., & Lewycky, S. (2009, March). Recovery from problem gambling: Inviting accounts of (and mobilizing) conversational agency. Poster presented at the Banff Conference on Internet Gambling – Alberta Gaming Research Institute.

The Alberta Gaming Research Institute provides grant funding to support peer-endorsed academic investigations into many aspects of gambling research. The contents, recommendations, and findings of the associated research reports, posted on this website, represent the views of the researcher(s).

Last Updated: 02/09/11