公共心理学论文 老龄人幸福感与赌博(原版)

公共心理学论文 老龄人幸福感与赌博(原版)

JOURNALOFAPPLIEDBEHAVIORANALYSIS

2010,43,531–535

NUMBER

3(FALL2010)

THEEFFECTOFGAMBLINGACTIVITIESONHAPPINESS

LEVELSOFNURSINGHOMERESIDENTSMARKR.DIXON,BECKYL.NASTALLY,

AND

AMBERWATERMAN

SOUTHERNILLINOISUNIVERSITY

Thecurrentstudyevaluatedtheeffectofparticipatinginsimulatedgamblingactivitiesonhappinesslevelsof3nursinghomeresidents.A4-componentanalysiswasusedtomeasureobjectiveresponsesassociatedwithhappinessduringbaseline,varyingdurationsofengagementinsimulatedgamblingactivities,and2follow-upperiods.Resultsindicatedthatallresidentsexhibitedahigherpercentageofhappinesslevelswhileengagedinsimulatedgamblingactivitiescomparedwithbaseline.Follow-upassessmenttookplace10minand30minfollowingtheintervention;nolastingeffectswereobserved.

Keywords:elderly,engagement,gambling,happiness

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Engagingtheelderlyinpreferredactivitiesandthusimprovingtheirqualityoflifehasthepotentialtoproducepositivehealthbenefits(Wang,Karp,Winblad,&Fratiglioni,2002).Onesuchactivityisrecreationalgambling.Recentresearchsuggeststhatpositivehealthbenefitsfromgamblingcanoccurintheelderly(VanderBilt,Dodge,Pandav,Shaffer,&Ganguli,2004).Inthisstudy,alargegroupofruralcommunity-dwellingelderlywasassessedacrossanumberoffactorsincludingthepredictabilityofregulargambling.Thoseindi-vidualswhofrequentlygambledhadhigherself-reportedhealth,lowerratesofdepression,andagreatersocialsupportnetworkthannongam-blingpeers.Otherresearchershavenotedthatgamblingisbeneficialtothementalhealthoftheelderlybecauseitnotonlyprovidesasocialactivitybutalsoinvolvesusingproblem-solvingskills,concentration,andmemory(Christensen&Patsdaughter,2004).

Constructssuchasdepression,socialsupport,andconcentrationoftenpreventbehavioralresearchersfromconductingcontrolledexami-nations,becausethedependentvariableofinterestisdifficulttodefineoperationally.

AddresscorrespondencetoMarkR.Dixon,BehaviorAnalysisandTherapyProgram,RehabilitationInstitute,SouthernIllinoisUniversity,Carbondale,Illinois62901(e-mail:mdixon@siu.edu).

doi:10.1901/jaba.2010.43-531

Oneexceptionisthebehavior-analyticresearchonhappiness(Green&Reid,1996).Althoughpredominantlyexaminedinindividualswithdevelopmentaldisabilities,recentlytheresearchhasbeenextendedtotheelderlypopulation(Moore,Delaney,&Dixon,2007).Giventhepotentialphysicalandpsychologicalhealthbenefitsofgamblingfortheelderly,weshouldexploretheoptionofallowingsuchanopportunityinlong-termcarefacilities.How-ever,beforeinstatingsuchgamblingactivitiesonawidescale,preferenceforandreactiontotheopportunitytogambleshouldbeassessedinthispopulation.Therefore,thepurposeofthepresentstudywastoexaminewhetherelderlynursinghomeresidentswouldprefertointeractwithgamblingstimulianddisplaytheemo-tionalaffectofhappinesswhileengagedinsimulatedgamblingornongamblingactivities.

METHOD

SettingandParticipants

Thestudywasconductedina159-bednursingfacility.Threeresidentswhohadapriorhistoryofgambling(asreportedbycaregivers)servedasparticipantsinthestudy.Donna,Lily,andFredhadresidedinthenursinghomeforatleast4years,wereovertheageof80,andhadnodiagnosesofdementiaorothercognitivedisabilities,asevidencedbymedicalfilesprovidedbythenursinghome.

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公共心理学论文 老龄人幸福感与赌博(原版)

532MARKR.DIXONetal.

ResponseMeasurement,InterobserverAgreement,andExperimentalDesign

Happiness,asdescribedbyGreenandReid(1996),wasdefinedasanyvocalizationorfacialexpressionthatcouldbeconsideredtypicalofhappiness,whichincludessmilingandlaugh-ing.Residentswerescoredasunhappyifyelling,frowning,orcryingwasobserved,andnoaffectifneitherconditionwasobserved(Mooreetal.,2007).Theeffectsofgamblingonthesehappinessmeasureswereevaluatedunderfourconditionseachday:baseline,simulatedgam-bling,10minaftergambling,and30minaftergambling.Levelsofhappinessduringsimulatedgamblingand10minand30minaftergamblingwerecomparedtobaselineinafour-componentanalysis(seeRapp,2006).Eachparticipantwasengagedinthesimulatedgamblingactivityfor5-min,10-min,and20-minintervals.Observersused10-spartial-intervalrecordingtocollectdata.

Twoindependentobserversrecordeddatafor33%ofthesessions.Interobserveragreementforhappinessmeasureswasdeterminedbydividingthenumberofagreementsofemotion-alaffectbythenumberofagreementsplusdisagreementsandconvertingtheratiotoapercentage.Meaninterobserveragreementwas99%(range,96%to100%).

Procedure

Preferenceassessment.Weconductedatwo-phasepreferenceassessmentusingthepaired-choicemethod.Duringthefirstpreferenceassessment,theexperimenterpresentedfivecategories(animals,food,letters,people,andcasinogames)ofvisualstimuli(11cmby15cm)totheresidentinpairsoftwo.Anyparticipantwhoselectedgamblinglessthansecondmostfrequentlywasexcludedfromthestudy.Thisdidnotoccurforanyoftheparticipants.Duringthesecondpreferenceassessment,stimuliwerelimitedtopicturesofgamblingandpeople(thetoptwochosensetsfromPhase1forallparticipants).Participantswhochose

thegamblingstimulimoreoftencontinuedontothenextconditionoftheexperiment.

Simulatedgamblingactivity.Allresidentswereexposedtoasimulatedgamblinggameoftheirchoiceonalaptopcomputerfortwosessionsofeachdurationofengagement(i.e.,5,10,and20min).Dataonhappinesslevelswerecollectedduringa10-minbaselinepriortotheimplementationofthegamblingactivitywhentheexperimenterfirstenteredthefacilityandlocatedtheresidentinthenursinghome.Nocontrolsforpreexperimentalobservationset-tingsweremade;thus,theresidentcouldhavebeeninvarioussettings(e.g.,room,dininghall)orwithvariouspeople(familymembers,staff,otherresidents).

Afterthe10-minbaselineobservation,theexperimenterdirectedtheresidenttoplaythesimulatedgamblinggame(HoyleCasinoGames).Theexperimenteraskedtheparticipanttochooseamongplayingslotmachines,standardvideopoker,roulette,blackjack,orcraps.Noactualmoneywasexchangedduringthecourseoftheexperiment.Thus …… 此处隐藏：8978字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……