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Enhancing the Relevance and Effectiveness of a Youth Gambling Prevention Program for Urban, Minority Youth: A Pilot Study of Maryland Smart Choices

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A Correction to this article was published on 24 September 2018

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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.

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Change history

  • 24 September 2018

    The article <Emphasis Type="Italic">Enhancing the Relevance and Effectiveness of a Youth Gambling Prevention Program for Urban, Minority Youth: A Pilot Study of Maryland Smart Choices</Emphasis>, 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.

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Acknowledgements

MD-Smart Choices is funded by the Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling supported by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene/Behavioral Health Administration. Thanks to faculty and staff at the Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling and Center for School Mental Health for partnering to support the MD-Smart Choices program. Developers and coordinators of MD-Smart Choices are also deeply appreciative of the school mental health program (SMHP) clinicians and partnering schools in Baltimore City for continued implementation of and commitment to this critical gambling prevention effort.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for School Mental Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 737 West Lombard Street (4th Floor), Baltimore, MD, 21201, USA

    Brittany R. Parham, Nancy Lever, Sharon Hoover, Kelly Willis & Joanna Prout

  2. The Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 5900 Waterloo Road, Suite 200, Columbia, MD, 20145, USA

    Carl Robertson

  3. Department of Psychology, Northern Virginia Community College, 8333 Little River Turnpike, Annandale, VA, 22003, USA

    Tracy Palmer

  4. Department of Psychological Science, Eastern Connecticut State University, 83 Windham Street, Willimantic, CT, 06226, USA

    Phyllis Lee

Authors
  1. Brittany R. Parham
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  2. Carl Robertson
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  3. Nancy Lever
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  4. Sharon Hoover
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  5. Tracy Palmer
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  6. Phyllis Lee
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  7. Kelly Willis
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  8. Joanna Prout
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brittany R. Parham.

Additional information

The original version of this article was revised: The article was originally published in SpringerLink with open access. With the author(s)’ decision to step back from Open Choice, the copyright of the article changed on September 2018 to © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018.

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Parham, B.R., Robertson, C., Lever, N. et al. Enhancing the Relevance and Effectiveness of a Youth Gambling Prevention Program for Urban, Minority Youth: A Pilot Study of Maryland Smart Choices. J Gambl Stud 35, 1249–1267 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-018-9797-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-018-9797-4

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