Comparing the Efficacy of an Online Gambling Intervention to a no Intervention Control Condition

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Online interventions for gambling problems hold a strong potential to help people with gambling concerns. However, there are no trials, to-date, that have been able to demonstrate the effectiveness of such an intervention. The current trial will compare participants provided access to an online gambling intervention to those assigned by chance to a no intervention condition in order to test the efficacy of one such Internet intervention for gambling. Participants will be recruited through Amazon's MTurk crowdsourcing platform. Potential participants identified as problem gamblers who are interested in quitting or reducing their gambling in the next 6 months, or often think about it, based on an initial survey will be invited to complete additional surveys at 6 weeks and 6 months. Those who then agree to be followed up will be randomized to access an online intervention for gambling or a no-intervention website. These participants will then be contacted again at 6 weeks and 6 months to ask about their gambling, and their impressions of the online intervention. The primary hypothesis to be tested is that participants receiving access to the online gambling intervention will report a greater reduction in number of days gambling and in NODS scores at 6-month follow-up than participants in the no intervention control condition.

Official Title
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Comparing the Efficacy of an Online Gambling Intervention to a no Intervention Control Condition: Randomized Controlled Trial

Conditions
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Gambling Problem

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Online Gambling Internet Intervention


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: 18 years of age or over A score of 5 or over on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) Thinking about cutting down or quitting their gambling (in next 6 months, or state that they are thinking about it most or almost all of the time) Willingness to complete a 6-week and 6-month follow-up survey

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Other
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| No Intervention: No Intervention<br>A questionnaire that asks individuals what components of an online intervention they might find useful. | |
| Experimental: Online Gambling Internet Intervention<br>An online gambling Internet intervention (housed at CAMH and developed based on the self-help materials created by Professor David Hodgins) | Behavioral: Online Gambling Internet Intervention<br>* CAMH's online gambling intervention which includes self-help materials as well as a personalized feedback component.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Change in the variable, National Opinion Research Center DSM Screen for Gambling Problems (NODS) score | Screening tool for gambling problems according to DSM-IV criteria | Past 6 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Change in the variable, number of days gambling in the past month | Total days gambled in the past 30 days | 6 weeks and 6 months | 
| Change in the variable, Gambling Symptom Assessment Scale (GSAS) score | Gambling symptom severity in the past week | 6 weeks and 6 months |