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The Involvement of a Concerned Significant Other in Gambling Disorder Treatment Outcome

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Abstract

Interpersonal distress is a common feature in gambling disorder and adding a concerned significant other (CSO) to the recovery process could be an effective tool for improving treatment outcome. However, little empirical evidence is available regarding the effectiveness of including a CSO to interventions. We aimed to compare treatment outcomes (i.e. compliance with therapy guidelines, dropout from treatment, and relapse during treatment) in a CBT program involving a CSO to CBT treatment as usual (TAU) without a CSO. The sample comprised male gambling disorder patients (N = 675). The manualized CBT intervention consisted of 16 weekly outpatient group sessions and a 3-month follow-up period. Patient CSOs attended a predetermined number of sessions with the patient and were provided with resources to acquire a better understanding of the disorder, to manage risk situations, and to aid patients in adhering to treatment guidelines. Patients with a CSO had significant higher treatment attendance and reduced dropout compared to patients receiving TAU. Moreover, patients whose spouse was involved in the treatment program were less likely to relapse and adhered to the treatment guidelines more than those with a non-spousal CSO. Our results suggest that incorporating interpersonal support to gambling disorder interventions could potentially improve treatment outcomes.

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Acknowledgements

The findings described have not been published elsewhere. This work was supportted by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (PSI2015-68701-R); AGAUR (2009SGR1554) and Instituto de Salud Carlos III (FIS14/00290). CIBER Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn) and CIBER Salud Mental (CIBERsam) are supported by ISCIII. G.M.B. is supported by a predoctoral Grant of AGAUR (2016FI_B 00568).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pathological Gambling Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Bellvitge University Hospital-IDIBELL, C/Feixa Llarga s/n, 08907, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain

    Susana Jiménez-Murcia, Fernando Fernández-Aranda, Gemma Mestre-Bach, Trevor Steward, Amparo del Pino-Gutiérrez, Marta Baño, Laura Moragas, Neus Aymamí, Mónica Gómez-Peña, Eduardo Valenciano-Mendoza, Marta Sancho, Isabel Sánchez, Núria Mallorquí-Bagué & José M. Menchón

  2. Ciber Fisiopatología Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERObn), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, C/Monforte de Lemos, 3-5, Pabellón 11 - Planta 0, 28029, Madrid, Spain

    Susana Jiménez-Murcia, Roser Granero, Fernando Fernández-Aranda, Gemma Mestre-Bach, Trevor Steward & Núria Mallorquí-Bagué

  3. Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Campus de Bellvitge - Pavelló de Govern, Feixa Llarga s/n, 08907, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain

    Susana Jiménez-Murcia, Fernando Fernández-Aranda & José M. Menchón

  4. Département de Psychoéducation, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, 3351 Boulevard des Forges, Trois-Rivières, QC, G9A 5H7, Canada

    Joël Tremblay

  5. Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota Medical School, 2450 Riverside Avenue South Minneapolis, Minneapolis, MN, 55454, USA

    Randy Stinchfield

  6. Departament de Psicobiologia i Metodologia de les Ciències de la Salut, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, C/Fortuna Edificio B, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

    Roser Granero & Salomé Tárrega

  7. Nursing Department of Mental Health, Public Health, Maternal and Child Health, Nursing School, University of Barcelona, Campus de Bellvitge - Pavelló de Govern, Feixa Llarga s/n, 08907, Hospitalet del Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain

    Amparo del Pino-Gutiérrez

  8. Centre d’Excellence pour la Prévention et le Traitement du Jeu, Faculté de Sciencies Sociales, Université Laval, Pavillon Félix-Antoine-Savard, 2325 rue des Bibliothèques, Local 1116, Quebec, QC, Canada

    Isabelle Giroux

  9. Atención e Investigación en Socioadicciones, Red de Salud Mental y Adicciones, Generalitat de Catalunya (XHUB), C/Forn 7-9 Local, 08014, Barcelona, Spain

    Vega González

  10. Facultat de Psicologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici B1, Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, C/Ca n’Altayó, s/n, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

    Virginia Martín-Romera

  11. CIBER Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, C/Monforte de Lemos 3-5, Pabellón 11 - Planta 0, 28029, Madrid, Spain

    José M. Menchón

Authors
  1. Susana Jiménez-Murcia
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  2. Joël Tremblay
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  3. Randy Stinchfield
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  4. Roser Granero
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  5. Fernando Fernández-Aranda
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  6. Gemma Mestre-Bach
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  7. Trevor Steward
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  8. Amparo del Pino-Gutiérrez
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  9. Marta Baño
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  10. Laura Moragas
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  11. Neus Aymamí
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  12. Mónica Gómez-Peña
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  13. Salomé Tárrega
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  14. Eduardo Valenciano-Mendoza
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  15. Isabelle Giroux
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  16. Marta Sancho
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  17. Isabel Sánchez
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  18. Núria Mallorquí-Bagué
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  19. Vega González
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  20. Virginia Martín-Romera
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  21. José M. Menchón
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susana Jiménez-Murcia.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Jiménez-Murcia, S., Tremblay, J., Stinchfield, R. et al. The Involvement of a Concerned Significant Other in Gambling Disorder Treatment Outcome. J Gambl Stud 33, 937–953 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-016-9657-z

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