Effective interventions for the treatment of gambling that is associated with harm: Rapid Evidence review

Change often starts with small, intentional steps, like deleting your gambling apps, opening up to a loved one, or choosing healthier ways to cope with stress. The therapists meet the participants once every week and will have adequate opportunities to detect AEs. The questionnaires about psychiatric digital entertainment operator symptoms during treatment will also be used to collect information about AEs, such as worsening of psychiatric symptoms.

In terms of content, the questionnaire focuses on the constructs or areas of psychosocial functioning that are targeted by the treatment and in which changes are expected. Since the questionnaire is very comprehensive, its’ administration to patients is structured into four distinct parts spread across 4 days. Given the clinical setting, participant evaluations are non-anonymous, yet voluntary participation is ensured with informed consent obtained from all participants. A control group was not included in this study due to the fact that all individuals identified as gambling addicts are receiving treatment, and alternative treatment modalities are not available within the clinic. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Zagreb Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences.

The constant growth in patients clearly demonstrates the need for such specialised gambling addiction treatment programme within the healthcare system as well as the need to scientifically evaluate it and modify accordingly. Before starting with the treatment programme, a psychiatrist conducts an initial assessment to evaluate the patient’s motivation and readiness for treatment, as well as to identify any potential exclusion criteria. These may include circumstances or conditions that could impede the treatment process, such as significant impairments in intellectual functioning, complete illiteracy, or acute mental illness and/or personality disorders that would interfere with the process and/or outcomes. Covering six scientific databases, we conducted a thorough literature search including backwards and forwards snowballing with all steps from selecting and rating studies to extracting and coding data done by at least two reviewers independently.

• CBTs are commonly supplemented with motivation enhancing interventions to target low treatment engagement (3–5).
• Instead, the inclusion of prediction intervals may be useful to supplement the overall summary effect size estimate and its confidence interval (19).
• The participants will also be urged to contact the clinic if any problem occurs during the treatment period.
• In general terms, three subgroups have been described—behaviorally conditioned, emotionally vulnerable, and antisocial impulsive39,40—both in community populations41,42 and in clinical samples38.
• For instance, a client may believe that wearing a lucky hat will increase the odds of winning at slots.
• Thus, it was not possible to determine what impact the presence of comorbid conditions had on the results.

Understanding Gambling Addiction: More Than Just a Lack of Willpower

The level of physical activity and sedentary behavior will be evaluated using three questions developed by the Research Group for Physical activity and Health at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences. These questions are validated against accelerometer, objective tests (submaximal oxygen uptake test, balance test and vertical jump test) and cardiovascular risk factors. One question measures time spent in exercise training (six response alternatives ranging from 0 to more than 120 min per week), while another question measures time spent in everyday physical activity (seven response alternatives ranging from 0 to more than 300 min per week). The last question measures time spent sitting during a day (seven response alternatives ranging from “almost all day” to “never”) 51. These questions are recommended by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare.

Statistical methods for primary and secondary outcomes 20a

Furthermore, although the results clearly indicate significant effects on socio-emotional skills and cognitive distortions, these are generally difficult to measure. In terms of socio-emotional skills, it would also be preferable to include other assessment methods, i.e., those that allow patients to demonstrate their ability to use these skills in addition to, of course, assessing them in a follow-up study. Finally, but not least, the greatest impact of the differences (0.84) was found in the level of adverse psychosocial consequences of gambling, i.e., the total score of the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) instrument. Specifically, the average score on this measure decreased from the initial 15.84 to 4.15, indicating that the treatment contributed significantly to reducing the harmful consequences of gambling, which is one of its main objectives.

Behavioral Strategies to Overcome Perfectionism That Work

In 2017, a collaboration was established between the University Clinic “St John” and the University of Zagreb Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences to initiate a systematic scientific evaluation project for this gambling treatment. A design with two measurements sessions (pre-test and post-test) was included in the treatment protocol. A pre-test (T1) is administered at the beginning of the treatment, while the post-test (T2) is administered at the end of the treatment, i.e., prior to patients’ discharge from the clinic. Furthermore, this study follows a per protocol design, as only patients who completed the full treatment programme were included in the analysis.