Effectiveness of Therapy Treatment

Summary

The efficacy of psychosocial treatments for PG, including cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) and motivational interviewing (MI) approaches, has been supported in a handful of clinical trials. Indeed, there is more evidence supporting these two approaches than for any other psychosocial treatment for problem gambling. However, while efficacy studies have been conducted, few studies have examined the effectiveness of behavioural treatment in community-based gambling treatment settings. That is to say, the investigators have a good idea of what works in a laboratory setting (i.e., university research settings), but the investigators have no research assessing the transfer of evidence-based treatments for problem gambling to community care. Efficacy studies provide substantially less information about the actual utility of treatments than do effectiveness trials because the way in which treatment is actually provided in the field (with flexibility in terms of time-frame and technique and the tendency to address co-occurring problems) is different from the much more single-focused (on gambling) way it is conducted in laboratory settings. The proposed study is designed to address this significant gap in the research literature. The investigators propose to conduct a treatment effectiveness trial examining a combined cognitive motivational behavior therapy (CMBT) delivered by community-based problem gambling treatment providers, compared with treatment as usual (TAU).

Conditions

• Gambling
• Pathological Gambling

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Treatment as Usual

Participants will receive Treatment as Usual, on an individual basis, for 60-minutes once per week for 12 weeks.

BEHAVIORAL

Cognitive Motivational Behavior Therapy

Participants will receive a combined motivational and cognitive-behavioral therapy, on an individual basis, for 60-minutes once per week for 12 weeks.

BEHAVIORAL

12-week wait list

Participants will be randomly assigned to start treatment immediately or to go on a 12-week wait list (where they will start treatment 12 weeks from day of consent).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Wayne State University

  collaborator OTHER

• Windsor Regional Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• Problem Gambling Institute of Ontario

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• David Ledgerwood, PhD · Wayne State University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

80 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2011-12-31

Primary Completion

2013-12-31

Completion

2013-12-31

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations