Online Help for Problem Gambling Among Chinese Youths.

The objectives of this study were to determine the perceptions and accessibility of online help for problem gambling among Chinese youths. A group of undergraduates participated in a survey cum laboratory exercise to search for help for problem gambling in Macao, Hong Kong, and China. Online search engines were used. During the search process, participants found they had to sieve through a long list of search results, many of which were links to articles rather than help organizations. The key findings of this study were: (1) online help was a popular resource but it was not perceived as the most effective form of help, (2) there were no sponsored links in the search results and it took some effort to locate the relevant help organizations, and (3) certain website features and online tools were useful to attract potential users to online help. This paper discussed the implications of the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]