NCT06681103

Online Intervention to Promote Change and Help-Seeking in Young Adults With Gambling and Trading Problems

Online Personalized Normative Feedback to Foster Intention to Change and Help-Seeking in Young Adults With Gambling- and Trading-Related Problems: An Experimental Study

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 1,112 (actual)
• Sponsor: Universidad Miguel Hernandez de Elche · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 34 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The goal of this study is to investigate if personalized online normative feedback (PONF) can increase intention to change and help-seeking behaviors in young adults with gambling or trading problems in Spain. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Does PONF increase intention to change and help-seeking behaviors? 2. How does receiving PONF affect gambling and trading behaviors? Researchers will compare three groups: * Evaluation group: A control group with pre- and post-assessments. * Delayed evaluation group: A control group with only a post-assessment, to control for the effect of the assessment. * FNPO group: An intervention group receiving PONF after the initial evaluation and completing both pre- and post-assessments. Participants will: * Receive PONF or no feedback at the first evaluation. * Complete initial and follow-up assessments after 12 weeks.

Detailed description

Despite the availability of treatment options, the percentage of individuals with problem gambling who seek help or treatment remains low. To reach a larger number of pathological gamblers, other forms of online or self-guided interventions have been developed, with personalised normative feedback (NPF) being the most widely applied modality in the prevention of problem gambling in the young adult population. However, the majority of studies on the efficacy of PNF only assess its impact on the intensity and severity of gambling behaviour, and do not analyse its potential effect on increasing intention to change and treatment-seeking behaviour. Furthermore, there is a lack of studies analyzing the efficacy of NPF in reducing new forms of online money spending linked to pathological gambling, such as betting on video games and excessive trading of financial assets, including cryptocurrencies. The present project has two objectives: (1) to quantify the intention to change and the prevalence of help-seeking behaviours in the Spanish young adult population with pathological gambling or trading behaviours; and (2) to analyze the effectiveness of personalised online normative feedback (PONF) to increase intention to change and help-seeking in this population. The study will employ a randomised controlled design (three Solomon groups) with one intervention group and two control groups. The study will involve a sample of at least 656 men and women living in Spain, aged between 18 and 34 years. The impact of receiving FNPO on gambling and trading behaviour will be analysed over a 12-week period. This will include an assessment of the intention to change and treatment seeking, as well as the longitudinal trajectory of gambling and trading behaviours (in terms of intensity, frequency and severity). Furthermore, individual, interpersonal and contextual factors will be evaluated in order to ascertain the profile of those with gambling and trading issues who may derive the greatest benefit from this type of intervention. This project is pioneering both nationally and internationally. Furthermore, this study will assess for the first time the intention to change and help-seeking in young adults with gambling behaviour (in traditional and new formats such as video games) and pathological trading. It will also develop and analyze the effectiveness of the first tool to mobilize change and reduce the prevalence of these behaviours. Furthermore, the study design will enable an independent assessment of the impact of both the intervention and the assessment of pathological gambling and trading behaviours on the individual.

Conditions

• Gambling Disorder

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Personalized Normative Feedback	Those participating in this condition will receive a personalised brief report which summarises the results of their initial assessment. The PONF will comprise the following elements: (1) Details of the main gambling and trading activities performed, including frequency of engagement and amount of money spent; (2) Scores on the criteria of pathological trading and/or PGSI (problem gambling), together with an interpretation of the results and the level of severity. All results will be accompanied by graphs enabling participants to compare their scores with the average scores of the Spanish population of the same sex and age range. To prevent an increase in behaviour in participants whose frequency or intensity of gambling/trading is below the norm, as recommended by Newall et al. (2023), the normative data will include extreme averages and percentages. All participants assigned to the PNF intervention receive identical feedback content, regardless of assessment sequencing.

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-12-20
• Primary completion: 2025-06-30
• Completion: 2025-06-30
• First posted: 2024-11-08
• Last updated: 2026-01-30

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Spain