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Problem Gambling Severity Index: Extended Summary Report

Author: Ipsos Published: June 2023
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Summary

This Ipsos report for GambleAware examines the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), analysing its effectiveness and suggesting improvements for measuring gambling-related risks and harms.

Topics covered

  • analysis of Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) items and scoring
  • relationship between PGSI scores and wellbeing 
  • limitations of PGSI scale and recommendations potential improvements 

Key findings

The PGSI remains useful for estimating gambling risk, but individual items vary in indicating severity.
Higher PGSI scores strongly correlate with poorer wellbeing.
Overall, PGSI likely underreports gambling risks and harms and care is needed when using it as a clinical or screening tool. Adding self-reported harm questions could improve accuracy. 

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