A National Public Health Programme on Gambling Policy Development in New Zealand: Insights From a Process Evaluation

Simple item page
aut.relation.endpage15
aut.relation.issue11en_NZ
aut.relation.journalHarm Reduction Journalen_NZ
aut.relation.pages15
aut.relation.startpage1
aut.relation.volume15en_NZ
aut.researcherAbbott, Max
dc.contributor.authorKolandai-Matchett, Ken_NZ
dc.contributor.authorLandon, Jen_NZ
dc.contributor.authorBellringer, Men_NZ
dc.contributor.authorAbbott, Men_NZ
dc.date.accessioned2018-12-04T02:52:11Z
dc.date.available2018-12-04T02:52:11Z
dc.date.copyright2018en_NZ
dc.date.issued2018en_NZ
dc.description.abstractBackground In New Zealand, a public health programme on gambling policy development is part of a national gambling harm reduction and prevention strategy mandated by the Gambling Act 2003. Funded by the Ministry of Health, the programme directs workplace/organisational gambling policies, non-gambling fundraising policies, and local council policies on electronic gaming machines (EGMs). We carried out a process evaluation of this programme to identify practical information (e.g. advocacy approaches; challenges and ameliorating strategies) that can be used by programme planners and implementers to reinforce programme effectiveness and serve to guide similar policy-focused public health initiatives elsewhere. Methods Evaluation criteria, based on the programme’s official service specifications, guided our evaluation questions, analysis and reporting. To identify informative aspects of programme delivery, we thematically analysed over 100 six-monthly implementer progress reports (representing 3 years of programme delivery) and transcript of a focus group with public health staff. Results Identified output-related themes included purposeful awareness raising to build understanding about gambling harms and the need for harm-reduction policies and stakeholder relationship development. Outcome-related themes included enhanced community awareness about gambling harms, community involvement in policy development, some workplace/organisational policy development, and some influences on council EGM policies. Non-gambling fundraising policy development was not common. Conclusions The programme offers an unprecedented gambling harm reduction approach. Although complex (due to its three distinct policy focus areas targeting different sectors) and challenging (due to the extensive time and resources needed to develop relationships and overcome counteractive views), the programme resulted in some policy development. Encouraging workplace/organisational policy development requires increased awareness of costs to employers and society and appreciation of policy value. Although encouraging non-gambling fundraising policies will likely remain challenging, public debate on ethical aspects could stimulate policy consideration. Influencing council EGM policy decisions will remain important for minimising EGM accessibility among vulnerable communities. Public involvement in EGM policy decisions has strong implications for policy effectiveness. Given the expanding range of gambling activities (including online gambling) presently accessible to communities worldwide, both organisational and public policies (as advocated through the programme) are needed to minimise gambling harms.
dc.identifier.citationHarm Reduction journal, 15(1), 11.
dc.identifier.doi10.1186/s12954-018-0217-yen_NZ
dc.identifier.issn1477-7517en_NZ
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10292/12097
dc.publisherBioMed Centralen_NZ
dc.relation.urihttps://harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12954-018-0217-yen_NZ
dc.rightsThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
dc.rights.accessrightsOpenAccessen_NZ
dc.subjectWorkplace; Organisational, fundraising, and electronic gaming machine gambling policies; Gambling harm reduction; Problem gambling public health programme
dc.titleA National Public Health Programme on Gambling Policy Development in New Zealand: Insights From a Process Evaluationen_NZ
dc.typeJournal Article
pubs.elements-id328570
pubs.organisational-data/AUT
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/Health & Environmental Science
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/Health & Environmental Science/Public Health & Psych Studies
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/PBRF
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/PBRF/PBRF Health and Environmental Sciences
pubs.organisational-data/AUT/PBRF/PBRF Health and Environmental Sciences/HY Public Health & Psychosocial Studies 2018 PBRF
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