ABSTRACT
Youth with problem gambling behaviors are susceptible to serious academic, behavioral, and mental health consequences including school failure, criminal involvement, and depression. Coupled with increased exposure to gambling formats, issues related to youth gambling have been deemed a serious public health issue requiring increased prevention efforts. However, the literature is limited in terms of evidence-based gambling prevention programs warranting the development of The Maryland Smart Choices Program (MD-Smart Choices), a gambling prevention program for middle and high school youth. This 3-session, 45-min program was developed for implementation in Baltimore City Public Schools, an urban and predominately African American district with specific aims to engage students, encourage positive behavior, and facilitate learning related to gambling disorder. Pre-post program participation assessments were collected from 72 students across 5 different schools. Results yielded significant increases in student awareness and knowledge following participation in MD-Smart Choices. Focus group data collected from program facilitators suggested high student engagement and participation, program feasibility, and ease of implementation. Study implications and future directions are discussed.
Subject(s)
Gambling/prevention & control , Gambling/psychology , Minority Groups/psychology , Students/psychology , Adolescent , Adolescent Behavior/psychology , Female , Focus Groups , Humans , Male , Maryland , Pilot Projects , Program EvaluationABSTRACT
The article Enhancing the Relevance and Effectiveness of a Youth Gambling Prevention Program for Urban, Minority Youth: A Pilot Study of Maryland Smart Choices, written by Brittany R. Parham, Carl Robertson, Nancy Lever, Sharon Hoover, Tracy Palmer, Phyllis Lee, Kelly Willis and Joanna Prout, was originally published electronically on the publisher's internet portal (currently SpringerLink) on 18 August 2018 with open access. With the author(s)' decision to step back from Open Choice, the copyright of the article changed on 10 September 2018 to © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018 and the article is forthwith distributed under the terms of copyright.The original article has been corrected.
