by rbartels | Jun 30, 2022 | Publications
In March 2022, Amanda Roberts and colleagues published a paper in ‘Addictive Behaviors’ entitled Predictors of suicide attempts in male UK gamblers seeking residential treatment.
Abstract
Background
Disordered gambling can have serious negative consequences for the individual and those around them. Previous research has indicated that disordered gamblers are at an increased risk of suicidal thoughts, ideation and attempts. The current study sought to utilise data from a clinical sample to identify factors that are associated with prior suicide attempts.
Methods
The sample included 621 patients entering a gambling-specific residential facility in the UK. A series of Chi-Square analyses and binary logistic regressions were run to identify clinical and sociodemographic variables associated with suicide attempts.
Results
Of the 20 variables analysed using Chi-square statistics, five were significantly associated with the outcome variable (lifetime attempted suicide): loss of family relationships, loss of home, prior depression, prior suicidal thoughts, and medication use. Regression analysis showed that individuals were more likely to have reported suicide attempts if they had experienced loss of family relationships (1.65 times), loss of a home (1.87 times), prior depression (3.2 times), prior suicidal thoughts (6.14 times), or were taking medication (1.95 times) compared to those not reporting such individual events.
Conclusions
Disordered gamblers are vulnerable to suicide; a number of factors have been identified in the current study that predict an increased likelihood of attempted suicide. The factors mainly revolve around loss: not financial loss, but rather disintegration of an individual’s support network and deterioration in the individual’s mental health. Findings indicate that isolation and negative affect associated with gambling are most influential in attempted suicide and should therefore be more strongly considered when creating and providing the legislative, educational and treatment environments for those experiencing gambling related harm.
by rbartels | Jun 30, 2022 | Other
In March, Ross Bartels was invited to collaborate on a funded project entitled “Can you tell me more? The development of a Virtual Conversational Agent (VCA) for assessing and monitoring sexual interests and fantasies of sex offenders‘).
Ross joins PI (Prof Jean-Pierre Guay) from the University of Montreal (and others) on the project, which received funding ($249,488) from the Government of Canada (under the ‘New Frontiers in Research Fund’).
by rbartels | Jun 30, 2022 | Publications
On the 25th Feb 2022, PhD student, Matthew King-Parker (along with with Ross Bartels and Tochukwu Onwuegbusi), published a paper entitled “The Burglary Cognitive Distortions Scale: Its association with burglary proclivity and other key variables” in the journal ‘Psychology, Crime, and Law’.
Cognitive distortions play a key role in offending but have not been researched in relation to burglary. Using the literature on offence-related cognition as a guide (which is primarily focused on sexual offending), the present two studies aimed to develop and validate the Burglary Cognitive Distortions Scale (BCDS). Drawing upon the burglary literature, an initial pool of 36-items was produced. Two online studies using community-based participants were then conducted. Each study involved administering the BCDS, along with measures of burglary proclivity, general criminal beliefs, empathy, and human needs. In Study 1 (N1 = 306), an exploratory factor analysis of the BCDS produced two factors: (1) Acquisitive Entitlement, and (2) Survive by any Means. In Study 2 (N2 = 266), confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the two-factor structure and helped refine the item pool. In each study, the 24-item CFA version of the BCDS was found to be associated with general criminal beliefs and burglary proclivity. Factor 1 of the BCDS, as well as general criminal beliefs, independently predicted proclivity scores. Future research should now aim to validate the BCDS using a sample of people who have committed burglary, as it holds promise for use in forensic settings and research.
by rbartels | Jun 30, 2022 | Other
In Feb 2022, Amanda Roberts (and colleagues) were awarded the Psyche Award for Most Valuable Paper on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic by the Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy.
They will receive a shiny certificate and feature in the spring edition of the journal.
The winning paper was:
Roberts, A., Rogers, J., Mason, R., Siriwardena, A.N., Hogue, T., Whitely, G., & Law, G. (2021). Alcohol and other substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 229 (Part A). p. 109150. ISSN 0376-8716.
by rbartels | Jun 30, 2022 | Publications
On Feb 4th 2022, Lauren Smith and Amanda Roberts (along with Jim Rogers from the School of Health and Social Care, and Steve Sharman from Kings College London) submitted a response to the Ministry of Justice Prison Strategy White Paper calling for screening and support for gambling harms to be included in the strategy.
The response is also available on the repository.
