A taxonomy of gambling and casino games via social media and online technologies

The increased popularity of casino games on social media platforms has prompted international jurisdictions to consider the extent to which these games may be similar to Internet gambling activities and therefore subject to regulatory action. Gambling themes are popular in video and computer games, and simulated-gambling activities are commonly offered by gambling operators as a way of enticing users to gamble online with money. However, little research has evaluated the impact of the digital convergence of gambling and gaming. The lack of a clear definition of online gambling-themed activities to guide such research undertakings represents a significant hurdle to the fields of gambling and gaming. Based on a review of the extant literature, this article proposes a taxonomy to distinguish between many types of online activities with gambling-themed content. This taxonomy suggests that the principal features that differentiate online gambling games include the requirement for payment, the role of skill, the type of platform and the centrality of the gambling theme. The proposed hierarchical framework aims to promote clear and consistent discussion to guide ongoing investigation of new and emerging Internet gambling and gaming technologies.     

Gearing Up for Personalisation: Training Activities Commissioned in the English Pilot Individual Budgets Sites 2006–2008

The transformation of social care in England is taking place though changes affording greater choice and control for people using services. Individual budgets were one key element of these changes and were piloted in 13 local authorities in 2006–2008. This article reports on interviews with training leads in these local authorities that took place in 2008 as part of an independent evaluation of the individual budget pilots. The aims of the interviews were to explore the role of training as part of the processes of transformation, the use of resources and establishment of training strategies within the local authority. Participants revealed that the subject of training was acquiring higher profile within their authorities, although uncertainties remain about the extent of local authority responsibilities for training. Within local authorities, training resources were yet to be determined and models of training were not fully developed. The article concludes that training will remain a central issue when implementing personalised social care services and that models of training for such changes should be shared and evaluated over the long term.     

A comparison of college students’ perceptions of older and younger tattooed women

ABSTRACT

A randomly assigned sample of 376 college students responded to a survey involving a between-subjects 2 × 3 experiment designed to assess the impact of age (older versus younger) and tattoo status (i.e., no tattoo, feminine tattoo, or masculine tattoo) on three dependent measures: credibility, attractiveness, and promiscuity. Older and younger women are perceived differently depending on tattoo status. Not wearing a tattoo may lead to a more favorable perception of older women than wearing one, but wearing a feminine tattoo may engender a more favorable impression of older women than having a masculine tattoo. But not having a tattoo may not be as helpful for the perception of younger women as it is for older women. Also, while younger women may be rewarded for gender role transgression with respect to tattoo status, this is not so for older women.     

The Appropriateness of Using Laboratories and Student Participants in Gambling Research

Increased recognition of the risks associated with gambling has resulted in a greater focus on empirical research to increase the understanding of gambling and design appropriate response strategies. Laboratory studies are a popular mode of research due to their relative ease and lower costs compared to field research; however such studies may be limited in the extent to which results can be generalized to real gambling scenarios. The current research investigated the validity of a laboratory research study using 127 university students (male = 97, mean age = 20.4) investigating the impact of harm-minimisation measures by replicating the study in gambling venues with 124 club patrons (male = 89, mean age = 44.1). The main results and effects of both studies were in the same direction, but fewer significant results were found in the venue study. Venue participants provided much less information in response to survey questions than student participants and were less likely to return follow-up questionnaires. It was concluded that both laboratory and field studies provide valuable contributions to the field, but caution should be taken in interpreting results, and where possible both methodologies should be used to verify conclusions.     

Quiet please, there's a lady on stage: : Centering the person with dementia in life story narrative

This paper is drawn from a larger study based on traditional qualitative thematic methods, which explored the use of secondary biographical stories as a strategy in conversation with an older person who has dementia. The aim of this paper is to re-examine the data to facilitate further discussion in gerontology about the ways in which the ideals of Kitwood's (1997) personhood and narrative inquiry can be used keep life story of the person with dementia intact. By drawing upon narrative writers such as Mishler (1986), Gee (1991), Ramanathan (1995) and Riessman (2004, 2007), we describe a methodological approach utilising structural and thematic forms of narrative analysis to keep the person with dementia ‘centre stage’ in their own life story narrative. This paper demonstrates that by integrating a person-centred approach to interpretative and structural narrative analysis, people living with dementia can be the centre of their own story and communicate with their community what is important and why it is worth telling.     

Exploring the Meanings of the “Heartfelt” Gesture: A Nonverbal Signal of Heartfelt Emotion and Empathy

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior - We conducted two studies to explore the potential meanings associated with the “heartfelt” gesture, which involves placing one’s hand with a flat...     

Ports of Entry and Obstacles: Teenagers' Access to Volunteer Activities

The recruitment of young people into volunteering activities is the primary focus of this article. We examine which teenagers volunteer, the ways that teenagers become involved in volunteer activities, and why teenagers do not volunteer. Teenagers who volunteer tend to have dominant status, that is, access to social power, high personal competency, and socialization into volunteer experiences through family, church, and school. Personal contact with family, friends, and teachers who are involved with service, prior participation in school‐ and church‐based service, and personal initiative lead teenagers to learn about and engage in volunteering activities. Teenagers who do not volunteer often do not have sufficient time or interest. Differences exist among teenagers as to which factors prompt volunteering. For example, teenagers who are white, have parents who volunteer, and attend religious services are more likely than others to learn about volunteer activities through organizations, and teenagers with higher personal competency (grade point averages) are more likely than others to learn about volunteering activities at school. The article includes suggestions for recruitment policy and management of teenage volunteers.     

Children's Use and Knowledge of Display Rules for Anger Following Hypothetical Vignettes versus Following Live Peer Interaction

Our primary goal was to examine the correspondence between children's self-reported use and knowledge of display rules for anger following hypothetical vignettes versus following live peer interactions. Our secondary goal was to investigate whether children's self-reported experience and self-reported expression of anger were related their observed anger expression, considered an observational measure of use of display rules for anger. Participants were 274 second-grade children. Children were first interviewed about their use and knowledge of display rules for anger in game-playing situations depicted through hypothetical vignettes. Several months later, children interacted with a confederate in standardized games designed to simulate the vignettes and answered the same questions about display rules. Children's responses were moderately related across the two contexts. However, following the live interactions, compared to the hypothetical vignettes, children reported feeling less anger, expressing less anger, intending to hide their anger more, and dissembling their anger more. In addition, there were differences in the quality and quantity of strategies for hiding anger that children generated across the two contexts. Observations of anger expression were not related to self-reports of either the experience or expression of anger.     

‘Pick me up and not a down down,up up’: how are the identities of people with aphasia represented in aphasia,stroke and disability websites?

Suddenly acquiring a permanent impairment means a person must learn to think differently (Frank, 1995), and he or she does so partly by telling stories. The most commonly told illness narratives are 'restitution' narratives. People with aphasia (a communication impairment commonly following stroke) surfed aphasia, stroke and disability websites, read the personal stories attached to them, and created their own narratives in response. Charitable and disability-related websites excluded people with aphasia through their tone, content and narrative 'voice.' Engagement with some websites was contingent on subscribing to a specific perspective on aphasia. Personal narratives attached to charitable websites were seen to reflect the organisational stance. In particular, idiosyncracies of aphasic language were often eliminated. When participants constructed their own web pages they replicated the stylistic traits that had previously been criticised. Identities are mercurial and difficult to pinpoint. Further work with people with aphasia using videoclips, soundclips and other non-text-based techniques to create illness narratives is planned.