Research from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has indicated that 1.6 million adults in England who participate in harmful gambling might benefit from gambling treatment and support.
The OHID commissioned the University of Sheffield and the University of Glasgow for the analysis – Gambling treatment need and support in England: main findings and methodology – to estimate the number of adults who gamble in England who might need treatment and what kind of support they would benefit from.
Estimates are “only for the support needs of people who gamble and do not consider the support needed for other people affected by their gambling”.
An adapted Delphi consensus survey was used to conduct the research in an online survey, collecting data between September 2022 and December 2022, from 22 professionals with gambling treatment and support services knowledge across NHS, charities and private providers.
Six forms of treatment options were presented: brief advice, extended brief interventions, psychosocial interventions, psychologist-led CBT, intensive residential treatment, and peer support.
Of the 1.6 million adults mentioned above, 970,000 may benefit from ‘level 2 intensity’ treatment, which involves two or three motivational interviewing sessions by gambling-specialist practitioners.
‘Level 4 intensity’ treatment could help 243,000, which involves eight to 14 sessions of cognitive behavioural therapy led by psychologists.
Intensive treatment has been recommended for 40,000, which is a 12-week residential programme with one-to-one therapy and group sessions. However, this type of support is given on a case-by-case basis and takes a person’s circumstances into account.
Per region, London has the highest rate of adults who gamble and might require support of 3,835 per 100,000 population, an estimate of 266,707.
London was followed by the North West (3,782 – 219,210) and West Midlands (3,751 – 174,641). The South East had the lowest rate (3,223 – 233,185).
The OHID also estimates that the 1.6 million adults that might benefit from gambling treatment and support have a 95 per cent confidence interval of between 1,301,206 to 1,939,991.
The research also highlighted the number of children living in a household with an adult who gambles and might require treatment, which is estimated to be 912,805 children with a 95 per cent confidence interval level between 754,864 and 1,116,074.
Prevalence rate estimates were based on pooled data from 2015, 2016, and 2018 NHS England’s Health Survey for England.
A “multinomial logistic regression” was then applied “to estimate the probability of a survey respondent being classified as belonging to one of the five treatment types or a ‘no treatment’ option” based on personal factors such as age, sex, quintile of index of multiple deprivation and regional unemployment rate.
Researchers then obtained the estimated population for each treatment type by applying probabilities to the mid-year population estimates for 2020, provided by the Office for National Statistics for each upper-tier local authority using their unemployment rates.
