Evaluating the Reliability and Validity of the Short Gambling Harm Screen: Are Binary Scales worse than Likert Scales at capturing Gambling Harm?

Abstract

Gambling-related harm has become a key metric for measuring the adverse consequences of gambling on a population level. Yet, despite this renewed understanding in contemporary research, little exploration has been conducted to evaluate which instrument is best suited to capture the harmful consequences of gambling. This study was designed with the aim of determining whether Likert scales were better suited to capture gambling harm than binary scales. We hypothesized that the Short Gambling Harm Screen (SGHS), initially scored using a binary scale, would perform similarly to the alternate form that was Likertized for the purpose of this study. A corresponding comparison in the reverse direction was executed for the Problem Gambling Severity Index. The SGHS’s performance was assessed via a repeated-measures design in combination with three other measures of validity administered at the conclusion of the survey. In the end, we found that changing the scoring format (i.e., from binary to Likert) had negligible impact on the SGHS’s psychometric performance. We conclude that the original scoring method of the SGHS is not only appropriate but also no less suitable than Likert scales in measuring gambling harm. Resume Les dommages lies au jeu sont devenus une mesure cle pour evaluer les consequences nefastes du jeu a l’echelle de la population. Pourtant, malgre cette comprehension renouvelee dans la recherche contemporaine, on effectue tres peu d’exploration pour evaluer quel instrument est le mieux adapte pour comprendre les consequences nefastes du jeu. Cette etude a ete concue dans le but de determiner si les echelles de Likert etaient mieux adaptees que les echelles binaires pour saisir les dommages lies au jeu. Nous avons emis l’hypothese que le depistage rapide du jeu problematique (Short Gambling Harm Screen ou SGHS), initialement evalue a l’aide d’une echelle binaire, ne fonctionnera pas differemment de la forme de Likert alternative qui a ete creee aux fins de cette etude.  Une comparaison correspondante dans la direction inverse a ete effectuee pour l'indice de gravite du jeu excessif (PGSI).  Les performances du SGHS ont ete evaluees par un plan de mesures repetees, combines a trois autres mesures de validite administrees a la fin du sondage. En fin de compte, nous avons constate que le changement du format de pointage (c.-a-d. du binaire au Likert) avait un impact negligeable sur le rendement psychometrique du SGHS. Nous concluons que la methode de pointage originale du SGHS est non seulement appropriee, mais egalement non moins appropriee que les echelles de Likert pour evaluer les dommages lies au jeu.