Portal de Murcia
www.portaldemurcia.com
The City Council is making new talks and workshops that will be taught this school year in schools throughout the municipality to prevent addiction to the game.
In 2018, the Consistory distributed a questionnaire to about 1,000 students with the aim of knowing their habits, in relation to the appropriate use of technologies in ESO and Bachelor students about gambling, in order to prevent these addictions
The City Council is also conducting addiction prevention workshops to encourage autonomous, responsible and critical responses to drug supply among young people
The Councilor for Sports and Health, Felipe Coello, and the Councilor for Youth and Sustainable Mobility, Rebeca Pérez, today reported on the activities carried out by the City Council during the last school year to curb and prevent gambling, such as preparing a survey which was distributed in the educational centers of the municipality, to have real data of how the uses or abuses are in the youth of the game and the use of ICT devices, as well as about the new campaign that will be carried out throughout the 2019 / 2020, to promote healthy habits among young people.
"Identifying the risk factors associated with addictions and preventing gambling, especially among the most vulnerable, such as young people, is a priority for this municipal Corporation," said Coello, who added that "in order to study the bases of pathological gambling addiction (gambling), as well as to anticipate and prevent this phenomenon, the City Council is carrying out a rigorous study in this area, developing various campaigns to inform and train schoolchildren, preparing surveys and preparing talks and workshops that will soon be taught in schools. "
For her part, the Councilor for Sustainable Mobility and Youth, Rebeca Pérez, has indicated that "we focus our efforts on preventing gambling because it affects our young people are only economically but also social, school, family and personal. In this way, In addition to carrying out these specific campaigns we offer a healthy leisure alternative every weekend thanks to the Networks program ".
50% of Bachelor students know gambling
In 2018, the City Council prepared and applied a questionnaire among approximately 1,000 ESO students - who were asked about their habits related to the use of new technologies -, and Bachelor's degree - who were asked about their habits in the game of chance and their perceptions and impressions about gambling.
Specifically, 529 ESO students, aged 11 to 17, participated, with 53.7% of the participants male and 46.3% female.
Of the total, 52.6% of respondents acknowledged that they used their cell phones excessively;
44.4% who slept with the mobile;
35.4% who neglected their homework to use their cell phones, and 14.4% recognized that their parents were unaware that their children played with mobile phones.
In addition, a total of 409 high school and vocational students participated in the survey, between 15 and 23 years old, 54% being men and 46% women.
49.5% acknowledged having played games of chance;
67.8% have made sports bets;
56.9% played roulette;
45.3% to online games, and 67.9% of the students who play recognized having played in bookmakers.
This survey also showed that, in general, there is a greater incidence in the use of gambling, online games and sports betting among men than among women.
The objective of this questionnaire was to obtain real data on the new habits related to 'online' and face-to-face games, as well as with devices such as mobile phones and tablets.
To curb gambling, the City Council has also launched workshops to prevent addiction to new technologies, as well as emotional intelligence and social competence, in order to promote skills among young people through which they can respond in a responsible, autonomous way and criticism regarding the supply of different drugs.
New courses and workshops to raise awareness among schoolchildren
After the analysis of the mentioned results, the Consistory is working on the preparation of an educational and preventive course that, as a pilot project and can be extended to all the educational centers of the municipality when it has been evaluated, will serve for the prevention and brake of the pathological game as well as the abuse of new technologies.
In this way, during this school year it is planned that lectures and workshops will be given in the field of prevention of gambling addiction, 'online', sports betting and addiction to new technologies.
To share the information and develop joint actions, the Consistory remains in contact with numerous associations related to this field such as the Murcian Association of Gambling Players in Rehabilitation (ASMUJER), Collective 'La Huertecica', 'Heliotropos' (Diagram Foundation) , Proyecto Hombre - Murcia, Nueva Esperanza Ludopathy Association.
The City Council services themselves are also participating in this project, such as the psychosocial counseling for young people of the Informajoven Center and the Municipal Drug Plan team.
Psychosocial counseling for young people between 16 and 30 years old
In addition, to guide, advise and respond to the current needs of young people in a personalized way, the City Council offers the Psychosocial Advisory Service at the Informajoven Center, which provides free and anonymous help to young people between 16 and 30 years old, who can request information on emotional, sexual and psychosocial matters.
Psychosocial counseling on the demand, on the increase every day, on behaviors of uncontrolled gambling among young people, in addition to informing them about healthy habits for the prevention of addictions and the appropriate use of technologies and social networks, also offers them advice to seek a treatment through specialized organizations, the official college of psychologists, and associations working in this field.
The personalized attention of this service is offered on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from 5 pm to 7 pm (Wednesday by appointment).
Young people can go in person to the Informajoven Center, or contact the City Council by phone (968215582) or by email asexjoven@ayto-murcia.es.
This service also offers information and guidance to professionals from associations, organizations and institutions that work with young people.
The most frequent questions asked by young people deal with gender and sexual identity, addictions, family conflicts and how to manage anxiety crises.
'Do not bite the hook' of gambling
The City Council has also launched various campaigns aimed at young people to inform and train them, such as 'Do not bite the hook', scheduled to prevent and curb gambling.
Specifically, the Consistory carried out this program in 2016, in collaboration with various associations linked to the fight against gambling, such as Proyecto Hombre, La Huertecica, Heliotropos Diagram Foundation, Murcia Association of Gambling Players in Rehabilitation and the Association of Ludopathy New Hope.
Thanks to this initiative, talks were given in 25 institutes of the municipality, under the slogan 'There are games where you always lose!
Do not bite the hook ', and a total of 25,000 brochures were distributed to young people, in which the risks associated with' online 'games and sports betting were explained.
During the campaign, schoolchildren who had a problem with the game were identified, giving them information and advice if they met the characteristics that constituted the addict profile.
Source: Ayuntamiento de Murcia
Privacy policy
- Legal notice
- Cookies