The University of Barcelona awards a prize to an audiovisual project for the prevention of risks derived from gambling
The University of Barcelona (UB) has awarded the Antoni Caparrós prize to Dr. Hibai López González, lecturer at the UB’s Faculty of Information and Audiovisual Media, for a project to create audiovisual content to help inform teenagers and young people about the risks associated with gambling. The prize is awarded by the UB’s Social Council and the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation.
The project Dismantling gambling myths through Instagram aims to raise awareness of the main myths about gambling that can make young people think that their chances of winning are greater than they really are. It also aims to raise awareness of the risks of gambling and increase their knowledge of how these products work in order to prevent problems arising from addiction. In Spain, 3.4% of adolescents between 14 and 18 are considered to be at risk of suffering from a gambling problem, despite the fact that most of this age group are minors for whom gambling with money is illegal.
To raise awareness among teenagers and young people, they have created audiovisual clips that meet the defining characteristics of content shared on visual social media such as Instagram and TikTok. This essentially involves two elements: on the one hand, the short duration of the videos (less than one minute), and on the other, an interactive narrative that plays with the expectations of consumers.
The team that developed the materials has a background in addiction behaviour and audiovisual techniques. This has allowed the final product to be attractive to users, while at the same time being able to highlight the most clinically relevant aspects of the existing problem. The students Mar Giménez, Helena Contreras, and Mireia Camacho, have participated in the development of the materials together with Dr. López-González.
These audiovisual products can be used in multiple settings, such as educational centres, self-help groups, cognitive-behavioural treatment of gambling disorders and comprehensive programmes for the prevention of gambling problems.
The winning project was commissioned by three organisations that deal with gambling disorders in Navarra: the Proyecto Hombre Navarra Foundation; the Association for Research, Prevention, and Treatment of Addictions (ANTOX); and the ARALAR Association for the Relief and Prevention of Compulsive Gambling. Funding was provided by the Caja Navarra Foundation
The project belongs to the teaching innovation group ‘Innovation in Communication and Audiovisual Media (In-COMAV)’ and is also supported by the Didactics of History, Geography, and other Social Sciences (DHIGECS) research group.
To access the resulting audiovisual materials, click here.