Internet-based interventions for disordered gamblers: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial of online self-directed cognitive-behavioural motivational therapy

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Background

Gambling disorders affect about one percent of adults. Effective treatments are available but only a small proportion of affected individuals will choose to attend formal treatment. As a result, self-directed treatments have also been developed and found effective. Self-directed treatments provide individuals with information and support to initiate a recovery program without attending formal treatment. In previous research we developed an telephone-based intervention package that helps people to be motivated to tackle their gambling problem and to use basic behavioral and cognitive change strategies. The present study will investigate the efficacy of this self-directed intervention offered as a free online resource. The Internet is an excellent modality in which to offer self-directed treatment for gambling problems. The Internet is increasingly accessible to members of the public and is frequently used to access health-related information. Online gambling sites are also becoming more popular gambling platforms.

Method/Design

A randomized clinical trial (N=180) will be conducted in which individuals with gambling problems who are not interested in attending formal treatment are randomly assigned to have access to an online self-directed intervention or to a comparison condition. The comparison condition will be an alternative website that offers a self-assessment of gambling involvement and gambling-related problems. The participant’s use of the resources and their gambling involvement (days of gambling, dollars loss) and their gambling problems will be tracked for a twelve month follow-up period.

Discussion

The results of this research will be important for informing policy-makers who are developing treatment systems.

Trial registration

ISRCTN06220098

Related collections

Most cited references 37

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

The EUROHIS-QOL 8-item index: psychometric results of a cross-cultural field study.

Silke Schmidt, Holger Mühlan, Mick Power (2006)

Survey research including multiple health indicators requires brief indices for use in cross-cultural studies, which have, however, rarely been tested in terms of their psychometric quality. Recently, the EUROHIS-QOL 8-item index was developed as an adaptation of the WHOQOL-100 and the WHOQOL-BREF. The aim of the current study was to test the psychometric properties of the EUROHIS-QOL 8-item index. In a survey on 4849 European adults, the EUROHIS-QOL 8-item index was assessed across 10 countries, with equal samples adjusted for selected sociodemographic data. Participants were also investigated with a chronic condition checklist, measures on general health perception, mental health, health-care utilization and social support. Findings indicated good internal consistencies across a range of countries, showing acceptable convergent validity with physical and mental health measures, and the measure discriminates well between individuals that report having a longstanding condition and healthy individuals across all countries. Differential item functioning was less frequently observed in those countries that were geographically and culturally closer to the UK, but acceptable across all countries. A universal one-factor structure with a good fit in structural equation modelling analyses (SEM) was identified with, however, limitations in model fit for specific countires. The short EUROHIS-QOL 8-item index showed good cross-cultural field study performance and a satisfactory convergent and discriminant validity, and can therefore be recommended for use in public health research. In future studies the measure should also be tested in multinational clinical studies, particularly in order to test its sensitivity.

0 comments Cited 185 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Comorbidity of DSM-IV pathological gambling and other psychiatric disorders: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions.

Ian Grant, Heywood M. Petry, Frederick S Stinson (2005)

To present nationally representative data on lifetime prevalence and comorbidity of pathological gambling with other psychiatric disorders and to evaluate sex differences in the strength of the comorbid associations. Data were derived from a large national sample of the United States. Some 43,093 household and group quarters residents age 18 years and older participated in the 2001-2002 survey. Prevalence and associations of lifetime pathological gambling and other lifetime psychiatric disorders are presented. The diagnostic interview was the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Alcohol Use Disorder and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedule-DSM-IV Version. Fifteen symptom items operationalized the 10 pathological gambling criteria. The lifetime prevalence rate of pathological gambling was 0.42%. Almost three quarters (73.2%) of pathological gamblers had an alcohol use disorder, 38.1% had a drug use disorder, 60.4% had nicotine dependence, 49.6% had a mood disorder, 41.3% had an anxiety disorder, and 60.8% had a personality disorder. A large majority of the associations between pathological gambling and substance use, mood, anxiety, and personality disorders were overwhelmingly positive and significant (p .05). Pathological gambling is highly comorbid with substance use, mood, anxiety, and personality disorders, suggesting that treatment for one condition should involve assessment and possible concomitant treatment for comorbid conditions.

0 comments Cited 139 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Computer-delivered interventions for health promotion and behavioral risk reduction: a meta-analysis of 75 randomized controlled trials, 1988-2007.

B Portnoy, Jerald B. Johnson, Jason P Carey … (2008)

The use of computers to promote healthy behavior is increasing. To evaluate the efficacy of these computer-delivered interventions, we conducted a meta-analysis of the published literature. Studies examining health domains related to the leading health indicators outlined in Healthy People 2010 were selected. Data from 75 randomized controlled trials, published between 1988 and 2007, with 35,685 participants and 82 separate interventions were included. All studies were coded independently by two raters for study and participant characteristics, design and methodology, and intervention content. We calculated weighted mean effect sizes for theoretically-meaningful psychosocial and behavioral outcomes; moderator analyses determined the relation between study characteristics and the magnitude of effect sizes for heterogeneous outcomes. Compared with controls, participants who received a computer-delivered intervention improved several hypothesized antecedents of health behavior (knowledge, attitudes, intentions); intervention recipients also improved health behaviors (nutrition, tobacco use, substance use, safer sexual behavior, binge/purge behaviors) and general health maintenance. Several sample, study and intervention characteristics moderated the psychosocial and behavioral outcomes. Computer-delivered interventions can lead to improved behavioral health outcomes at first post-intervention assessment. Interventions evaluating outcomes at extended assessment periods are needed to evaluate the longer-term efficacy of computer-delivered interventions.

0 comments Cited 123 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Public Health

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMC Public Health

Title: BMC Public Health

Publisher: BioMed Central

ISSN (Electronic): 1471-2458

Publication date Collection: 2013

Publication date (Electronic): 8 January 2013

Volume: 13

Page: 10

Affiliations

[1 ]Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

[2 ]Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

[3 ]Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada

[4 ]Department of Psychology and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Article

Publisher ID: 1471-2458-13-10

DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-10

PMC ID: 3545736

PubMed ID: 23294668

SO-VID: 5bb04a53-55e7-4198-9432-f4c72cc7d536

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

History

Date received : 16 December 2012

Date accepted : 7 January 2013

Comments

Comment on this article

scite_

Cited by 23

See all cited by

Most referenced authors 464

See all reference authors

- Version 1

Internet-based interventions for disordered gamblers: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial of online self-directed cognitive-behavioural motivational therapy

Read this article at

Abstract

Background

Method/Design

Discussion

Trial registration

Related collections

Jiangsu Journal of Preventive Medicine

Most cited references 37

The EUROHIS-QOL 8-item index: psychometric results of a cross-cultural field study.

Comorbidity of DSM-IV pathological gambling and other psychiatric disorders: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions.

Computer-delivered interventions for health promotion and behavioral risk reduction: a meta-analysis of 75 randomized controlled trials, 1988-2007.

Author and article information

Journal

Affiliations

Article

History

Categories

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 63

Cited by 23

Most referenced authors 464