Rethinking the Approach to Gambling Disorder: The Case of the Italian Healthcare Services

Authors

  • Linda Lombi Università Cattolica of Milan, Italy
  • Marco Pedroni eCampus University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13136/isr.v9i3.265

Keywords:

gambling disorders, ludopathy, gambling policies

Abstract

In a cultural context where ludopathy is a social phenomenon built through normative and medical definitions, how are healthcare services approaching the treatment of gambling disorder? The purpose of this study is to examine the Italian healthcare service approach to pathological gambling disorder (PGD), with the aim of formulating proposals for action. Italy is chosen as a crucial terrain of investigation to understand the challenges posed by the growth of the gambling market in Europe and its consequences on its healthcare systems.

The empirical material underpinning the analysis includes the latest official statistical data regarding the socio-medical treatment of people with addictions in Italy as well as qualitative interviews conducted with social-sanitary structure managers responsible for therapeutic activities combating dependencies. Through a social construction perspective, gambling and PGD are understood as social phenomena whose meaning and definition comes as a result of a process of negotiation.

Accordingly, principal findings are related to the respondents’ visions of PGD and how they perceive the activities of social and health services, the impact of changes in legislation on the organisation of services, and the ongoing changes regarding this process.

Author Biographies

Linda Lombi, Università Cattolica of Milan, Italy

Department of Sociology

Marco Pedroni, eCampus University

School of Phycology

Downloads

Published

26.09.2019

How to Cite

Lombi, L., & Pedroni, M. (2019). Rethinking the Approach to Gambling Disorder: The Case of the Italian Healthcare Services. Italian Sociological Review, 9(3), 383. https://doi.org/10.13136/isr.v9i3.265

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 3 (2019)

Section

Articles

License

(APC) Article and submissions processing charges

ISR does not ask for articles and submissions processing charges APC

Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following points:

  1. Authors retain the rights to their work and give to the journal the right of first publication of the work, simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons License. This attribution allows others to share the work, indicating the authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. The authors may enter into other agreements with non-exclusive license to distribute the published version of the work (eg. deposit it in an institutional archive or publish it in a monograph), provided to indicate that the document was first published in this journal.
  3. Authors can distribute their work online (eg. on their website) only after the article is published (See The Effect of Open Access).