Gambling Education Programs for Adolescents: A Systematic Review

Around two thirds of Australian adolescents aged 10-14 years old have gambled in the last year, and rates of problem gambling are up to four times higher among adolescents than in the adult population. Schools provide a unique opportunity to intervene in cognitive and behavioural development, and while several gambling education programs exist in schools across Australia and internationally, few have been empirically evaluated. The purpose of this review was to provide a systematic appraisal of the published research on gambling education programs for adolescents. The review aimed to identify the number and quality of studies that have evaluated gambling education programs, and suggest recommendations for future research. A systematic search was conducted across five separate databases and a total of 17 studies were retained following screening and exclusion. All of the included studies were efficacious in achieving some pre-post improvements in cognition, beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge. However, many failed to assess behavioural outcomes, and only a few to date have been effective in achieving any significant changes in gambling behaviour. Other methodological issues included the brevity of follow-ups, measurement concerns including loose definitions of adolescent problem gambling. There were also distinct flaws in the content and design of many programs. This review provides a knowledgebase for future research, including some guiding principles for the effective design and evaluation of a gambling education program. Consistencies across successful programs were examined to provide insight into what constitutes an effective gambling education program

How Learning Misconceptions Can Improve Outcomes and Youth Engagement with Gambling Education Programs

Background and aims: Gambling education programs typically focus on promoting gambling as a high-risk activity with harmful effects; however, these programs demonstrate limited effects on the prevention of gambling problems. This paper proposes a clear theoretical framework to inform the content and delivery of gambling education initiatives and draws on psychological and pedagogical research to address some of the practical issues associated with its implementation. Methods: Literature was reviewed across fields of psychology, public health, and pedagogy to provide key recommendations to improve the outcomes of gambling education. Results: Four key recommendations were made for the development of future gambling education programs centering on theoretical approach, specialized content, and delivery. Discussion and conclusions: Recommended advancements are as follows: (a) evidence suggests shifting away from messages about gambling harms and instead applying a cognitive-developmental framework of problem gambling that may improve youth engagement by increasing personal relevance. (b) The cognitive model of problem gambling suggests that misconceptions about the profitability of gambling games (e.g., the gambler’s fallacy) play an important role in the development of problems and should be a key target for education. However, exposing such misconceptions requires the challenge of teaching the mathematical principles that underpin them. (c) The pedagogical field provides valuable insights into teaching complex concepts. Research that applies the conceptual change model to science education suggests misconceptions also facilitate learning new complex information, such as gambling-related mathematical concepts (i.e., randomness and statistics). (d) In addition, improvements in computer-assisted teaching methods provide opportunities to use simulations and visualizations to help teach abstract concepts and correct such misconceptions

The impact of resources on decision making

Decision making is a significant activity within industry and although much attention has been paid to the manner in which goals impact on how decision making is executed, there has been less focus on the impact decision making resources can have. This article describes an experiment that sought to provide greater insight into the impact that resources can have on how decision making is executed. Investigated variables included the experience levels of decision makers and the quality and availability of information resources. The experiment provided insights into the variety of impacts that resources can have upon decision making, manifested through the evolution of the approaches, methods, and processes used within it. The findings illustrated that there could be an impact on the decision-making process but not on the method or approach, the method and process but not the approach, or the approach, method, and process. In addition, resources were observed to have multiple impacts, which can emerge in different timescales. Given these findings, research is suggested into the development of resource-impact models that would describe the relationships existing between the decision-making activity and resources, together with the development of techniques for reasoning using these models. This would enhance the development of systems that could offer improved levels of decision support through managing the impact of resources on decision making

The sea ice model component of HadGEM3-GC3.1

A new sea ice configuration, GSI8.1, is implemented in the Met Office global coupled configuration HadGEM3-GC3.1 which will be used for all CMIP6 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6) simulations. The inclusion of multi-layer thermodynamics has required a semi-implicit coupling scheme between atmosphere and sea ice to ensure the stability of the solver. Here we describe the sea ice model component and show that the Arctic thickness and extent compare well with observationally based data

Localism and energy: Negotiating approaches to embedding resilience in energy systems

Tensions are evident in energy policy objectives between centralised top-down interconnected energy systems and localised distributed approaches. Examination of these tensions indicates that a localised approach can address a systemic problem of interconnected systems; namely vulnerability. The challenge for energy policy is to realise the interrelated goals of energy security, climate and environmental targets and social and economic issues such as fuel poverty, whilst mitigating vulnerability. The effectiveness of conventional approaches is debateable. A transition to a low carbon pathway should focus on resilience, counter to vulnerability. This article draws from on-going work which evaluates the energy aspects of a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) project to refurbish and re-build a local authority’s entire stock of sheltered accommodation to high environmental standards. Initial findings suggest that whereas more conventional procurement processes tend to increase systemic vulnerability, a user focussed process driven through PFI competitive dialogue is beginning to motivate some developers to adopt innovative approaches to energy system development. Conceptually these findings strongly suggest that embedding ‘Open Source’ principles in energy system development acts to work against systemic vulnerabilities by embedding resilience

The Sierra Leone Free Health Care Initiative (FHCI): process and effectiveness review

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The free healthcare initiative in Sierra Leone: Evaluating a health system reform, 2010-2015

Sophie Witter - orcid: 0000-0002-7656-6188 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7656-6188This article presents the findings of a theory-based evaluation of the Sierra Leone Free Health Care Initiative (FHCI), using mixed methods. Analytical approaches included time-series analysis of national survey data to examine mortality and morbidity trends, as well as modelling of impact using the Lives Saved Tool and expenditure trend analysis. We find that the FHCI responded to a clear need in Sierra Leone, was well designed to bring about needed changes in the health system to deliver services to the target beneficiaries, and did indeed bring funds and momentum to produce important systemic reforms. However, its ambition was also a risk, and weaknesses in implementation have been evident in a number of core areas, such as drugs supply. We conclude that the FHCI was one important factor contributing to improvements in coverage and equity of coverage of essential services for mothers and children. Modelled cost-effectiveness is high-in the region of US$420 to US$ 444 per life year saved. The findings suggest that even-or perhaps especially-in a weak health system, a reform-like fee removal, if tackled in a systematic way, can bring about important health system gains that benefit vulnerable groups in particular.sch_iih33pub5153pub

Integration of decision support systems to improve decision support performance

Decision support system (DSS) is a well-established research and development area. Traditional isolated, stand-alone DSS has been recently facing new challenges. In order to improve the performance of DSS to meet the challenges, research has been actively carried out to develop integrated decision support systems (IDSS). This paper reviews the current research efforts with regard to the development of IDSS. The focus of the paper is on the integration aspect for IDSS through multiple perspectives, and the technologies that support this integration. More than 100 papers and software systems are discussed. Current research efforts and the development status of IDSS are explained, compared and classified. In addition, future trends and challenges in integration are outlined. The paper concludes that by addressing integration, better support will be provided to decision makers, with the expectation of both better decisions and improved decision making processes