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Ygam’s ‘Mindful Resilience’ workshops have been validated by a Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) evaluation, one of its partners in the programme, showing a positive response from participants.
The RGC reported that 91% of participants in the workshops rated the programme as ‘good’ or ‘very good’.
Around two-thirds of participants – which included GPs and nurses, among other healthcare professionals – also stated that they had begun implementing lessons from the workshops into day-to-day practices.
Mindful Resilience was launched in September 2020 as a joint-initiative of Ygam, the RGC, Betknowmore UK and the University of Bournemouth, with the objective of training healthcare professionals on gambling addiction treatment, and ran until 2022.
Linda Scollins Smith, Director of Programmes at Ygam, said: “The findings of this evaluation are encouraging and a positive step in addressing the need for better understanding of gaming and gambling harms within the health care sector.
“The programme has already supported over 1000 health professionals and garnered very positive responses from participants regarding content, resources, and ongoing support. As with every pilot, there are areas of the programme that we can effectively improve.
“As an evidence-led organisation, these evaluations are vital to ensure that we continue to develop our educational offering, and that we continue to be a figurehead of good practice within the sector.”
Mindful Resilience training is City and Guilds assured and focuses on gambling harms and health issues. In the RGC assessment, respondents’ ratings of confidence in their abilities to signpost to information sources, approach children and young people, assess participation in gambling and gaming and know when to intervene have ‘almost doubled for each year’.
Further breaking down the survey, RGC Senior Researcher Dr Melissa Salmon, found that within six months of training completion, 64% of trained delegates reported implementing learning into their work with children.
A further 73% stated that their knowledge and learning had been a ‘positive process and easy to apply, with few obstacles’. Additionally, 84% said they would make no changes to course content, 14% rated it as good and 77% as very good, meaning 91% overall rated it in one of these two brackets.
Shelley White, CEO at RGC, added: “RGC’s Research and Advisory Services team is pleased to deliver this independent evaluation of the Mindful Resilience programme, which has shown very promising results for health care professionals during its pilot phase.
“We know that young people are at risk of experiencing gaming and gambling harms, therefore it is essential to educate and train those who work with young people on the practical ways to assess and respond to these risks.
“We are confident that our findings and recommendations will support Ygam in their commitment to delivering and refining this innovative programme, which will ultimately help to ensure the improved safety and care for young people.”
