Gambling Support Study: Understanding gambling harm experienced by female affected others

Abstract

Despite policy makers, health professionals and researchers increasingly acknowledging the impact of gambling-related harm on families and in community settings, problematic gambling behaviour is still commonly understood and treated at an individual level (Productivity Commission 1999). A lack of investigation into, and acknowledgment of, affected others' experiences can perpetuate both limited treatment expertise and limited access to resources and support for this group. Consequently, affected others are often left feeling isolated and unsupported (Krishnan & Orford 2002, Hodgins et al. 2007). A growing body of literature reports on affected others. Studies have shown that partners of gamblers experience high levels of personal distress (Kourgiantakis et al. 2013), and are at increased risk of depression, anxiety and isolation (Wenzel et al. 2008). Such couples also have a higher risk of experiencing significant relationship challenges (conflict and divorce) (Dowling et al. 2006). Studies have also shown that women suffer disproportionately more harm (Salonen et al. 2016) and report higher emotional impacts (Dowling et al. 2014) than their male counterparts. A Swedish study found that women in such relationships experience more violence and take more sick days than the population at large (Salonen et al. 2016). A recent Australian study investigating the characteristics and help seeking of affected others recruited from Gambling Help Online reported that 89% of affected others using online services are female (most often the partner) and under 35 years old , and that more than half had found out about the gambling problem in the past 12 months (Rodda et al. 2017).