PATHOLOGICAL GAMBLING: BASIC, CLINICAL AND SERVICES RESEARCH  

Release Date:  October 14, 1999

National Institute of Mental Health
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
National Institute on Drug Abuse

Program Announcement PA-98-106, "Pathological Gambling: Basic, Clinical and
Services Research," was published in the NIH Guide on September 16, 1998 and
is located at https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-98-106.html.  It
seeks to encourage a wide range of investigator-initiated gambling research
that is relevant to the programs of the three NIH institutes which are
participating in this announcement.  This notice seeks to encourage potential 
applicants to also consider research topics that the National Gambling Impact
Study Commission recommended to NIH in its final report of June 1999
(available at http://www.ngisc.gov) and that are within the scope of the
announcement.  These topics, and some of the areas of interest within 
them, are listed below:


YOUTH GAMBLING:
-- Development of comprehensive, developmentally appropriate, culturally
competent, reliable and valid measures of youth gambling (especially problem
and pathological gambling) and its consequences.
-- Illumination of the nature and underlying features of problem and
pathological gambling for youth. 
-- Research on the age of initiation, nature, course, correlates, and
consequences of youth gambling.  Correlates of interest include individual
characteristics and mental disorders, family and peer influences and
contextual variables, e.g., ease of access to gambling. 
-- The relation of youth gambling to other youth problems behaviors, including
tobacco, alcohol and drug use, early sexual activity, and delinquent behavior.
-- The relation of youth gambling to adult gambling (for both age groups,
especially problem and pathological gambling). 


ILLUMINATION OF CORRELATES OF CHANGE IN EXTENT OF GAMBLING AND 
ASSOCIATED PROBLEMS:
--  Individual and other factors associated with the initiation of gambling,
with progression from problem to pathological gambling, and with reduction in
the extent and consequences of gambling.  Of particular interest is research
that illuminates the factors associated with the progression from problem to
pathological gambling.


EVALUATION OF UNIVERSAL PREVENTION AND REFERRAL INFORMATION 
INITIATIVES FOR PROBLEM AND PATHOLOGICAL GAMBLERS:
-- Rigorous and comprehensive evaluations of universal prevention efforts for
problem and pathological gambling and of initiatives of employers and others
to foster recognition of and help seeking for problem and pathological
gambling.  The focuses of interest for such evaluations include assessment of
the proportion of the target audience reached, the various kinds of effects 
(information, attitude, and behavior) on the audience, and cost-effectiveness. 


AVAILABILITY AND ACCESS TO TREATMENT:
-- Determining the differences in prevalence among problem and pathological
gamblers in the population who do not desire treatment, such persons who
desire but who are not able to obtain treatment, and such persons who are in
treatment, and illumination of variables associated with 
each group. 
-- Illumination of factors that lead problem and pathological gamblers to seek
treatment, to enter treatment, and that are associated with variations in the
nature and extent of participation in treatment. 
-- Factors that affect the availability and nature of treatment for problem
and pathological gamblers. 


DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF TREATMENT INTERVENTIONS:
-- Interventions of interest include self-help groups as well as various
treatment models, including combined psycho-pharmacological models.
-- Evaluations are particularly encouraged that assess changes in immediate
targets of the intervention (e.g., in understanding of chance and odds of
winning, reductions in depressive symptoms) and that provide for a thorough
and comprehensive assessment of short and long-term changes in mediators and
in gambling.  
--  Research is also encouraged on the development and evaluation of treatment
models for relapse prevention with pathological gamblers.


"NATURAL RECOVERY" (cessation of gambling without participation in treatment):
-- Illumination of the factors involved with problem and pathological gamblers
who cease their gambling without participating in a formal treatment
intervention.


ADVERSE EFFECTS ON OTHERS OF PATHOLOGICAL GAMBLING:
-- The prevalence, nature, course and correlates of consequences that
pathological gamblers create for their families and for others.
-- Impacts of interest for the family include mental disorders, substance
abuse, suicide attempts and suicides, marital distress, spouse violence,
divorce, child maltreatment, changes in residence and in education and health
care.  
-- Impacts of interest for the workplace include loss of productivity and
accidents involving others.
-- Identification of factors associated with variations in impact on family
members.
-- Development and evaluation of interventions to reduce the risks of and
magnitude of adverse effects caused by a family member who is a pathological
gambler. 


EFFECTS OF TYPES OF GAMBLING:
-- Illumination of differences in risk for problem and pathological gambling
associated with various types of and mechanisms for gambling, including
electronic gambling machines and the availability of gambling on the Internet.


WORKING IN THE GAMING BUSINESS:
-- Is there a relation between risk for or presence of problem and
pathological gambling and seeking employment in the gaming business?
-- What are the effects of working in various positions in the gaming industry
on the likelihood of gambling and of progressing to problem and pathological
gambling?
-- Rigorous evaluation of information, counseling, and other employer efforts
to prevent problem and pathological gambling by employees and to encourage
employees who are engaging in problem and pathological gambling to seek help.  
 


Please note that R01 applications will be accepted under this announcement for
the special receipt dates of November 16, 1999 and November 16, 2000.  For
such applications, NIH's Modular Research Grants guidelines, announced in the
December 18, 1998 issue of the NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts, will apply. 
The main feature of these guidelines is that these grant applications must
request direct costs in $25,000 modules, without budget detail for 
individual categories.  Further information can be obtained from the Modular
Grants Web site at https://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/modular/modular.htm.

Potential applicants are also encouraged to consider the array of NIH grant
mechanisms which may be submitted at other regular receipt dates.  Potential
applicants are encouraged to contact program staff to discuss funding
mechanisms.


INQUIRIES

For further information on program issues, please contact:

Jim Breiling, Ph.D.
Adult Psychopathology Branch
Division of Mental Disorders, Behavioral Research and AIDS
National Institute of Mental Health
6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 6179
Bethesda, MD 20892-9625
Telephone: 301-443-3527
Fax: 301-443-4611
Email: [email protected]
Darryl Bertolucci, M.A.
Epidemiology Branch
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
6000 Executive Boulevard, Room 514
Bethesda, MD  20892-7003
Telephone:  (301) 443-4898
Fax:  (301) 443-8614
Email:  [email protected]

Meyer D. Glantz, Ph.D.
Division of Epidemiology and Prevention Research 
National Institute on Drug Abuse
6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 5147
Bethesda, MD  20892-9659
Telephone:  (301) 443-6543
Fax:  (301) 443-2636
Email:  [email protected]

For further information on fiscal issues, please contact:

Diana S. Trunnell
Grants Management Branch
National Institute of Mental Health
6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 6120
Bethesda, MD 20892
Telephone: 301-443-3065
Fax: 301-443-6885
Email:  [email protected]

Edward Ellis
Grants Management Branch
National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
6000 Executive Boulevard, Room 504
Bethesda, MD  20892-7003
Telephone:  (301) 443-4706
Fax:  (301) 443-3891
Email:  [email protected]

Gary Fleming, J.D., M.A.
Grants Management Officer & Chief
Grants Management Branch
National Institute on Drug Abuse
6000 Executive Boulevard, Room 3119
Telephone: (301) 443-6710
Fax: (301) 594-6847
Email:  [email protected]

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