The Nova Scotia Gaming Foundation has pledged almost $60,000 in support of a research project on The Role of Selective Exposure and Subsequent Information Processing in Health Behaviours. Awarded to Dr. Steven Smith, an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Saint Mary’s University, the grant will explore how people’s pre-existing attitudes and motivations influence how they process information relative to gambling attitudes and behaviours.
According to Dr. Smith, Nova Scotians engage or fail to engage in countless behaviours that have an impact on their health (e.g., problem gambling, smoking, poor dietary choices). “Given this fact,” says Smith, “it is not surprising that extensive public health campaigns sponsored by such groups as the Nova Scotia Department of Health Promotion and Protection are often conducted to alter citizen’s health attitudes and behaviours. Unfortunately, these campaigns sometimes fail to alter the attitudes and behaviours of the general public.”
In seeking to determine why, Dr Smith and his research team will begin to more fully develop the applied health implications of a general theoretical framework for when and why people engage in selective exposure to information. “Once effective methods for attitude and behaviour change can be developed, existing public health campaigns can be modified to ensure the greatest possible impact,” says Smith.
The Nova Scotia Gaming Foundation is an arms-length, government, not-for-profit organization that provides funding and support for community and research projects aimed at problem gambling. Most Nova Scotians engage in some level of gambling without experiencing any adverse financial or social effects. A small minority however will develop gambling problems. Since its inception in 1998, the NSGF has provided almost $7 million in funding and support for problem gambling initiatives designed to help individuals, families and communities throughout Nova Scotia
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For more information contact:
Barbara Madic
Communications Coordinator
Nova Scotia Gaming Foundation
(902) 424-2147
Barbara.Madic@gov.ns.ca
www.nsgamingfoundation.org
