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A UWindsor PhD candidate has received funding from the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre to examine why some problem gamblers quit addiction treatment programs and return to gambling.
Kevin Gomes, a PhD student in clinical psychology, was awarded the inaugural G. Ron Frisch scholarship award, which provides $25,000 research funding per year for three years while the winner works to complete their doctoral degree.
Gomes said problem gamblers drop out of treatment programs at a rate of about 50 percent and that a better understanding of variables to predict dropout rates can inform treatment options that are tailored to individual client needs.
Previous research indicates that good treatment results are often predictable based on the availability of social support and motivation for change, Gomes said, while dropouts tend to reflect such circumstances as depression and stress.
“Problem gambling is where alcoholism was 50 or 60 years ago,” said Dr. Ron Frisch, the scholarship’s namesake and a Psychology Professor Emeritus at UWindsor’s Problem Gambling Research Group. “It’s a relatively new social problem and we’re trying to better understand the dynamics associated with it so that we can ultimately treat it better.”
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