Program-A
PRoGRAM-A is an independently funded, school-based intervention designed to prevent gambling-related harm among UK adolescents, which GRG has collaborated with study leads at Edinburgh to design and evaluate. Drawing on peer-support and social network theory, the project adapts a proven model (ASSIST) to train influential students through two-day workshops delivered by external youth workers. These “Peer Supporters” then disseminate key messages about gambling, gaming, marketing, and associated risks over a 10-week period within their social circles.
In a pilot cluster randomized controlled trial across Scottish secondary schools (ages 13–14), the intervention achieved 95% fidelity, and was found to be both feasible and acceptable to students, teachers, parents, and wider staff. The programme offers a promising, scalable framework to integrate gambling education into school curricula and reach youth before harmful behaviours take root.
Publications
Miller M, Howell F, White J, Griffiths D, Noble L, Weir CJ, Niven A, Stoddart A, Ensor H, Wardle H, Purves R, Dobbie F. Preventing gambling-related harm among adolescents (PRoGRAM-A): an embedded multi-modal process evaluation in a pilot cluster random control trial. BMC Public Health. 2025 Jul 3;25(1):2327. doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-23565-8. PMID: 40611007; PMCID: PMC12224755.
Dobbie, F., Miller, M., Wardle, H. et al. Protocol for a pilot cluster randomised controlled trial of PRoGRAM-A (preventing gambling-related harm in adolescents): a secondary school-based social network intervention. Pilot Feasibility Stud 10, 109 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-024-01537-w