by Dr Emily Arden-Close (Bournemouth University)
This blog describes a small-scale exploratory research project to better understand the barriers and challenges faced by women from minority ethnic groups in accessing gambling harms treatment and support, and potential ways to overcome them. It was funded by a Research Innovation Fund Seedcorn Grant from the Bristol Hub for Gambling Harms Research. The Seedcorn Grant scheme is for early-stage research projects to test ideas, generate new insights and build working relationships with external partners, from which larger-scale impactful projects can be developed.
Women from minority ethnic communities are under-represented in gambling addiction treatment services in Britain, although prevalence of gambling harm may be higher in these communities than in the general population. This project comprised: (1) A co-design study with women from minority ethnic groups who had received treatment for gambling-related harms to explore barriers to access and ways to overcome them; and (2) testing community-based Family Fun Days as a way to start conversations with women from minority ethnic groups about gambling and gambling harms.
Co-design study: We conducted qualitative research with 10 women from minority ethnic communities who had received treatment for gambling-related harms. Wendy Knight from Early Knights Ltd, who is from an ethnic minority background and has lived experience of gambling harms facilitated the group discussions, which helped put our participants at ease. Our discussions highlighted how belonging to a close-knit community could be a barrier to seeking help, due to fears about how their community might respond to any disclosure of gambling problems and to feeling embarrassed. However, the women described how once they had talked to their social support network about their gambling, an empathetic and understanding response facilitated them getting help. They also talked about ways to raise awareness of the support that’s available, as they themselves had not known where to turn. In particular, they felt that advertising via social media – using content that is inclusively designed to reflect different socio-demographics – would enable gambling support services to reach a much wider audience. They felt that gambling treatment and support providers need to make sure that they use inclusive imagery and language on their websites and other content, otherwise people may think that services are not for them.
Family Fun Days: We held two Family Fun Days in public parks in Walsall and Sandwell, West Midlands. These are areas with a high proportion of residents from minority ethnic communities, which are also local to Gordon Moody’s gambling harms treatment and support services. We wanted to test if Family Fun Days, centred around community rounders matches, might be an effective way to raise awareness of gambling-related harms among women from minority ethnic communities. The events were advertised in public places locally and to schools. Rounders was facilitated through Rounders England in conjunction with Early Knights Ltd and t-shirts with the participating organisations’ logos provided to participants. Gordon Moody representatives attended to provide information about the service. Food was provided and an interactive talk on gambling-related harms was delivered by Red Card Gambling Support.
While both events ran smoothly, we had fewer participants than we expected. In particular, the Family Fun Days did not seem to be especially effective in engaging women from minority ethnic communities. We were, however, successful in engaging with men from the local community who were playing cricket in the parks, who chatted with the team and listened to Red Card’s talk about gambling-related harm.
What we learned:
- The co-design study showed that a lack of inclusive imagery and content on the websites (and other content) of treatment and support providers may be putting women from minority ethnic groups off seeking help. As a result of this learning, our project partner Gordon Moody is using the findings to make its website, advertising strategy and treatment more inclusive and attractive to a wider range of socio-demographic groups, including women from minority ethnic groups.
- We were able to further validate the value of co-designed projects. Working with a lived experience facilitator for the group discussions helped put participants at ease. Two people with lived experience also provided helpful feedback on our research findings.
- Our experience of testing Family Fun Days in public parks showed this may not be an effective way to engage women from minority ethnic groups in conversations about gambling and gambling harms. Future work could usefully explore what spaces women are comfortable accessing and potentially discussing these types of issues. Offering information and support about gambling-related harms at established community-based outdoor activities, such as Park Runs, could also be tested.
- The Family Fun Days highlighted the importance of fostering contacts, networks and relationships with local communities, community leaders and other stakeholders (such as local councils and universities) in order to co-design and deliver such events so they attract a larger and more diverse audience.
About the project team: The project was led by Bournemouth University, working with Gordon Moody, Early Knights Ltd and Red Card Gambling. The project team comprised Dr Emily Arden-Close, Bournemouth University; Dr Rosalind Baker-Frampton (Gordon Moody); Wendy Knight, Director of Early Knights Ltd.; and Tony Kelly (Red Card Gambling).