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Efficacy of a Self-Help Treatment for At-Risk and Pathological Gamblers

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Abstract

Available evidence suggests that self-help treatments may reduce problem gambling severity but inconsistencies of results across clinical trials leave the extent of their benefits unclear. Moreover, no self-help treatment has yet been validated within a French Canadian setting. The current study therefore assesses the efficacy of a French language self-help treatment including three motivational telephone interviews spread over an 11-week period and a cognitive-behavioral self-help workbook. At-risk and pathological gamblers were randomly assigned to the treatment group (n = 31) or the waiting list (n = 31). Relative to the waiting list, the treatment group showed a statistically significant reduction in the number of DSM-5 gambling disorder criteria met, gambling habits, and gambling consequences at Week 11. Perceived self-efficacy and life satisfaction also significantly improved after 11 weeks for the treatment group, but not for the waiting list group. At Week 11, 13% of participants had dropped out of the study. All significant changes reported for the treatment group were maintained throughout 1, 6 and 12-month follow-ups. Results support the efficacy of the self-help treatment to reduce problem gambling severity, gambling behaviour and to improve overall functioning among a sample of French Canadian problem gamblers over short, medium and long term. Findings from this study lend support to the appropriateness of self-help treatments for problem gamblers and help clarify inconsistencies found in the literature. The low dropout rate is discussed with respect to the advantages of the self-help format. Clinical and methodological implications of the results are put forth.

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Notes

  1. DSM-IV-TR (APA 2000) was the current version at the beginning of the study. Allocation of participants was therefore completed based on the number of criteria met according to this version of the DSM.

  2. Five participants were evaluated according to DSM-IV pathological gambling criteria (APA 1994) that were still in effect when the study protocol began. The assessment was then modified with the DSM-5 criteria for the other participants. For the five individuals who were not assessed according to DSM-5, a score was drawn for the DSM-IV score, leaving out the illegal acts criterion that was withdrawn in the latest DSM version. Since comparative analyses conducted including and excluding these participants gave similar results, results thus include the entire sample.

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Funding

This study was made possible by a grant from the Fonds de recherche du Québec—Société et culture in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Services of Quebec (Grant No. 2012-JU-164278). Catherine Boudreault received a scholarship for the writing of this article from the Centre de réadaptation en dépendance de Montréal-Institut universitaire.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculté des sciences sociales, École de psychologie, Université Laval, 2325, rue des Bibliothèques, Félix-Antoine-Savard Building, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Catherine Boudreault, Isabelle Giroux, Christian Jacques, Annie Goulet & Robert Ladouceur

  2. CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, Installation du CRDM-IU, Point de service Louvain, Centre de réadaptation en dépendance de Montréal-Institut universitaire, 950, de Louvain Est, Montréal, QC, H2M 2E8, Canada

    Hélène Simoneau

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  1. Catherine Boudreault
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  2. Isabelle Giroux
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  3. Christian Jacques
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  4. Annie Goulet
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  5. Hélène Simoneau
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  6. Robert Ladouceur
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Correspondence to Catherine Boudreault.

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

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Informed consent was obtained from all participants for being included in the study.

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Boudreault, C., Giroux, I., Jacques, C. et al. Efficacy of a Self-Help Treatment for At-Risk and Pathological Gamblers. J Gambl Stud 34, 561–580 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-017-9717-z

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