Evolution of capstone

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Evolution of capstone

• In the beginning. . .

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Evolution of Capstone

• Mental health and health disparities
• Hmong refugees and mental health issues
• Tracked issue for one year (media reports,
  educational workshops, forums)
• Compiled academic, government and agency research
• Conducted interviews and wrote preliminary
  articles for class assignments

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Evolution of Capstone Version 1

• Mental health screening efforts of new Hmong
  refugees
• Screening tool/instrument
• Observation of actual screening
• Mental health programs and services for refugees
  (MN and Thailand)
• Mental health and Hmong culture
• Profiles of refugee families

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Evolution of capstone

• Council of Asian and Pacific Minnesotans
  legislative update (2/14/2005)
• Advanced Reporting Methods-spring 2005
• Class project about gambling
• Finished overview article mid-March

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Evolution of Capstone Version 2

• Mental Health of new Hmong refugees
• Casino Gambling Addiction in the Twin Cities
  Asian community
• Overview policy article about mental health and
  Asians

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May 2005
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Casino Gambling Addiction in the Twin Cities
Asian Community

• Rachana Sikka
• July 25, 2005

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Agenda

• Background information
• Rationale for focus on gambling
• Background research, interview, writing and
  follow-up processes
• Components of article series
• Challenges and ethical issues
• Strengths and weaknesses
• Publication Outlets
• Conclusions

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Gambling and Minnesota
Source www.mpr.org
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Gambling and Minnesota
Two Indian tribes encouraged by gambling
discussion with Gov. Pawlenty MPR 10/28/2004
Pawlenty and northern tribes say gambling talks
were productive MPR 1/7/2005
Pawlenty, tribal leaders unveil casino
proposal MPR 3/4/2005
Work Life Jobs are casino plans silver
lining StarTribune 3/10/2005
Gambling Bills Pass Committee Test MPR
3/19/2005
NATIONAL DESK March 31, 2005  As Gambling
Grows, States Depend On Their Cut to Bolster
Revenues New York Times    
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Gambling

• Definition placing something of value at risk
  in the hopes of gaining something of greater
  value
• Wagering in casinos and on lotteries, horse and
  dog racing, card games, and sporting events

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Epidemiology of gambling

• Epidemiology (National Council on Problem
  Gambling, 2003)
• Over 80 percent of U.S. adults have reported
  gambling at least once in the past year and done
  so responsibly
• About one percent of adults (2 million people)
  meet the criteria of a pathological gambler
• Two to three percent have less serious, but
  significant problems with gambling

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Gambling as a (public) health issue

• Pathological gambling
• Impulse control disorder
• High rates of comorbidity between substance use
  and gambling disorders
• Increased rates of mental health disorders have
  been reported in problem and pathological
  gamblers
• Higher suicide rates have been associated with
  gambling

• Sources Cunningham-Williams RM, Cottler LB,
  1998 Compton III WM, Spitznagel EL, 1998
  Cunningham-Williams RM, Cottler LB, 2001
  Crockford DN, el-Guebaly N, 1998 Shaffer Korn
  2002

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Gambling as a (public) health issue

• Public health model for communicable disease can
  be applied to gambling (Shaffer Korn, 2002)

Person who chooses to gamble
Money, credit or something else of value
Specific gambling activity
Microenvironment gambling venue, family, local
community Macroenvironment socioeconomic,
cultural, social policy and political context
(Gordis, 2000)
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Gambling and Asians

• Asian groups in the U.S. show higher rates of
  gambling disorders compared with other groups
  (Handbook of Asian American Psychology, 1998)
• Prevalence surveys of Chinese immigrants to
  Western countries
• Montreal 5 problem gamblers, 2 pathological
  gamblers (Lesieur HR, Blume SB, 1987)
• Calgary 8 problem gamblers (Lo J, 1996)
• Sydney 10 pathological gamblers (Blaszczynski
  A, Huynh S, Dumlao VJ et al, 1998)
• Lifetime prevalence of pathological gambling in a
  sample of Southeast Asian refugees 59 percent
  (Petry NM, Armentano C, Kuoch T, Norinth T, Smith
  L, 2003)

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Gambling and Asians in Minnesota

• A report on the effects of problem gambling on
  Southeast Asian families and their adjustment to
  life in Minnesota (1996)
• Exploratory field study by the CAPM

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Gambling and Asians in Minnesota

• Gambling among Southeast Asians living in
  Minnesota has led to considerable financial and
  emotional problems resulting in increased debt,
  family stress, loss of homes, incidents of
  divorce, neglect of children and even deaths.
  (CAPM, 1996)

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Focus on gambling and Asians

• Timely
• Effective hook
• Fresh angle
• Localized
• Multi-dimensional issue
• Medical/psychological, political, social,
  economic and cultural aspects

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Background Research

• Literature search
• PubMed/Medline, PsychInfo, Current Contents
  (keywordsgambling and Asians)
• Outside publications/reports
• Governors Report on Compulsive Gambling A
  Report to the Minnesota Legislature (2004)
• A report on the effects of problem gambling on
  Southeast Asian families and their adjustment to
  life in Minnesota (1996)

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Background Research

• Websites
• Minnesota Department of Human Services
• Minnesota Institute of Public Health
• Minnesota Public Radio
• Star Tribune
• Minnesota State Lottery
• Casino websites

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Initial Contacts

• CAPM Legislative liaison/research analyst
• Gambling treatment provider lists
• State-approved gambling treatment providers from
  MDHS
• State and non-state approved providers from MN
  State Lottery
• Southeast Asian Gambling Treatment Consortium
  Program manager
• Lao Assistance Center Executive Director

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Initial Contacts

• Asked members of Council and Consortium, as well
  as gambling counselors about people who were
  dealing with gambling addiction
• Marketing/Public Relations representatives of
  casinos (Mystic Lake, Grand Casinos, Treasure
  Island)
• Mystic Lake Hotel Casino employee

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Table of Contacts
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Interview Process

• CAPM (phone interview)
• Southeast Asian Gambling Consortium/Lao
  Assistance Center (face-to-face interviews)
• Gambling counselors
• Tried to interview gambling counselors who
  represented different segments of the Asian
  community (phone interviews)
• Marketing/PR departments of Mystic Lake and
  Treasure Island casinos did not return phone
  messages

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Interview Process

• PR person at Grand Casino-Hinckley referred me to
  Goff Howard
• Spoke with chairman in mid-March by phone
• Visit to Mystic Lake Employees not willing to
  talk
• Mystic Lake Hotel Casino employee interview
  through a personal contact
• Phone interview
• Was not able to interview someone of Asian
  descent who had a gambling problem
• Located woman in the personal profile through
  program manager of Southeast Asian Gambling
  Consortium in mid-May
• Face-to-face interview

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Writing

• Overview article
• Highlight issue, raise awareness of problem
• Bolster with academic/outside research and
  interviews with program managers and treatment
  providers
• Discuss programmatic and legislative efforts
• Narrative introduction to grab readers attention
• Personal encounter at Mystic Lake
• Personal profile sidebar

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Follow-up Fact Checking

• Overview article
• Called back all sources at least once with
  follow-up questions, to double check facts and go
  over quotes
• Especially important with sources representing
  casino perspectives
• Personal Profile
• Followed up with source 2-3 times to fact check
  and go over quotes

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Overview Article

• Casino Gambling Addiction in the Asian
  Community
• 3,610 words
• Personal observation
• Research studies
• Local (Lao Assistance Center)
• Academic (Retry et al 2003)
• Anecdotal/observational reports
• Council of Asian and Pacific Minnesotans (CAPM)

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Overview Article

• Interviews
• CAPM
• Gambling counselors (Lao, Korean, Vietnamese,
  Chinese)
• Blackjack dealer/floor supervisor (Mystic Lake
  Hotel Casino)
• Chairman of Howard Goff public
  relations/public affairs firm for Mille Lacs Band
  of Ojibwe
• Programmatic/Legislative efforts
• Southeast Asian Gambling Consortium

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Overview Article Main findings

• Higher than average incidence of problem gambling
  among Southeast Asian men and women
• Also surfacing in Chinese and Korean communities
• Limited education and language skills, low
  income, immigrant status, boredom and loneliness
  seem to factor into gambling
• Difficult for counselors to do outreach
• Sophisticated marketing efforts by casinos
• Lack of entertainment options for people with
  limited English proficiency

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Personal Profile

• Untitled
• 1,023 words
• Local woman of Laotian descent
• Stepmother, biological mother and husband with
  gambling addiction
• To protect privacy, real names not used

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Narrative Piece

• Over the Buffet and through the Slot Machines
• 1,432 words
• Based on personal observation/encounter at Mystic
  Lake Hotel Casino
• Conversation with woman of Taiwanese descent

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Challenges

• Sensitive, emotionally charged issue
• Cultural lens magnifies pre-existing stigma
• Language barriers
• Difficulty finding personal stories
• Little published research and few experts
• Achieving balance and objectivity
• Easy to get swayed by emotions
• Casino employees unwilling to talk
• Programs vs. people

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Ethical issues

• Privacy/confidentiality
• Mystic Lake Hotel Casino employee
• People with gambling addiction and their families
• Evoking sensitive/traumatic issues for sources
• Personal account of Laotian woman
• Equity
• Giving equal voice to sources with limited
  English proficiency

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Limitations

• Lack of connection to broader mental health
  and/or policy issues
• Version 2 of capstone project
• Did not profile someone with gambling addiction
• Family member as proxy
• Slightly skewed toward an advocacy tone?

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Strengths

• Focused
• Timely
• Novel
• An emerging issue
• Respected the privacy of sources while still
  telling their stories
• Captured issues and voices of minority
  populations

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Publication Outlets

• Ummm. . .
• City Pages
• Local specialty newspaper and/or magazine
• Asian Pages?
• Asian-American Press?
• Pulse of the Twin Cities?
• Minnesota Monthly?

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Conclusions

• Sensitive topics minority and/or immigrant
  populations time for trust to develop between
  journalist and source
• Difficult to achieve under real-world deadline
  constraints
• Media can be an effective ally and intervention
  tool for health/human service professionals
• Can ease the transition to more intense
  intervention and/or policy development

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Conclusions

• Public health knowledge helped to understand and
  interpret research, but sometimes hindered
  interview and writing processes
• Knowledge of survey construction/research made
  interview preparation a headache
• Hard-wired to write in an academic fashion
• Need to publish articles before issue becomes
  obsolete

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My final two cents

• Honing my journalistic skills will be a lifelong
  process
• Journalism should be renamed Journeyism

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Thanks a bunch!!!

• Brian Southwell, Gary Schwitzer, Paul MacEnroe,
  John Finnegan
• All named and unnamed sources, especially David
  Zander, Rick Devich, Sunny Chanthanouvong and
  Noriko Ishihara
• Health journalism classmates
• Parents and friends

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Deal me any questions or comments