Help us to leave a legacy for female sport on International Women’s Day
For this year’s International Women’s Day (March 8), we’re calling on professional and semi-professional cricketers, football and rugby union players who play in English leagues to help support a vital body of research that can help to leave a lasting legacy for gambling harm prevention in women’s elite sport.
Our research manager, Anca-Maria Gherghel (pictured above), is undertaking a PhD with Sheffield Hallam University in order to explore the predictors of gambling amongst elite female athletes in England.
The aim is to identify potential determinants – such as age and emotions prior to the gambling experience – of problem gambling severity of professional female athletes in England, and she requires the input of any professional or semi-professional athletes currently participating in elite women’s cricket, football or rugby union within the country.
This research – which is entirely anonymous, and can take as little as 3-5 minutes to complete – will help to understand the prevalence of gambling-related issues within English sport’s leading female competitions, and provide best practice examples on how to tackle the issue for the benefit of future generations.
Taking part, for those who meet the eligibility criteria, is easy. Simply click here to access the survey and you will be asked to answer a number of questions regarding your gambling attitudes and behaviours, whether you gamble or not. All answers will be anonymous and treated in the strictest confidence, with no details requested regarding your identity, club or league.
The survey requires 200 respondents to provide a high quality data sample, and is part of a multi-year research initiative, which EPIC is helping to fund.
Sam Brooks, head of delivery services at EPIC Global Solutions, hopes that the appeal will boost the number of top athletes taking part in the research and that they will directly benefit from participating.
“This is a pioneering research project that Anca is undertaking, underpinned by the backing of EPIC,” she explained.
“Though men’s sport is well studied in this regard, there is a notable gap in research relating to the effect that gambling is having on women’s elite sport, so this PhD study will help to provide some valuable answers to questions that need answers within English sport, and will benefit athletes worldwide.
“There’s no better time to seek support from potential participants from elite female athletes than International Women’s Day and we hope that we’ll be able to receive responses from leading cricketers, footballers and rugby players to help create findings that can help to protect them and their peers from future risk of gambling-related harm.”
