Objective: To directly compare 2 forms of assessment for determining gambling problems in a community survey, and to examine the characteristics of respondents who endorsed DSM-IV symptoms but who scored below the formal DSM-IV diagnostic cutoff for pathological gambling. Method: We interviewed 1489 Winnipeg adults by phone (response rate 70.5%) using the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), a DSM-IV-based instrument, and several gambling-related variables. Results: The lifetime prevalence of "probable pathological gambling" (according to the SOGS, having a score of $ 5) was 2.6%. The SOGS items and DSM-IV symptoms were highly correlated (r = 0.80), but a score of 5 or more symptoms for a DSM-IV diagnosis produced lower prevalence figures. Comparisons between recreational gamblers (those with no DSM-IV symptoms), subthreshold pathological gamblers (those with 1 to 4 DSM-IV symptoms), and pathological gamblers (those with $ 5 DSM-IV symptoms) on a series of gambling-related variables (for example, high use of video lottery terminals) revealed that subthreshold individuals significantly differed from recreational gamblers and more closely approximated the characteristics displayed by pathological gamblers. Conclusions: SOGS items show a high degree of association with the DSM-IV clinical symptoms of pathological gambling, but the DSM-IV cutoff of 5 symptoms is more conservative in defining gambling problems. Results support a continuum view of gambling problems in the community. DSM-IV scores of 3 or 4 represent the higher end of the group officially considered diagnostically "subthreshold" and may be important from both a clinical and public health perspective.
Despite abundant prescriptions regarding what boards should do, we know little about what they actually do, especially in the face of the paradoxical goals of both ensuring control (as expressed in agency theory) and fostering collaboration (as expressed in stewardship theory) simultaneously. Drawing from the study of a co-operative over a 10-year period (including ethnographic data collection spanning 3 years), this paper shows the role of numbers in mediating paradoxes of governance. We show that numbers from very different spheres support different models of governance, prompt their change, but also their coexistence. Paradoxical control-collaboration dynamics are embraced, fed by two number-supported micro-practices: personalizing/professionalizing issues and creating new calculable spaces. These practices enable board members to both "act at a distance" and control, while they are also "kept at a distance" from the general manager, who ensures the board's collaboration.
Fewer people had high anxiety about preparation than about the procedure and findings of the procedure. There are unique predictors of anxiety about each colonoscopy aspect. Understanding the nuanced differences in aspects of anxiety may help to design strategies to reduce anxiety, leading to improved acceptance of the procedure, compliance with preparation instructions, and less discomfort with the procedure.
The 2.6% prevalence figure is the highest yet reported in a Canadian epidemiological survey and was obtained in a region that developed a more liberal attitude toward gambling in the 1990s. Further, a continuum of severity was demonstrated by scores on the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), and a clear and consistent distinction between problem and probable pathological gambling was not apparent. Frequenting casinos and using video poker and slot machines, rather than buying lottery tickets, distinguishes problem or pathological gamblers from recreational gamblers.
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