Gambling Disorder
Conditions
Keywords
mHealth App
Brief summary
The goal of this project is to develop and to test the efficacy of a novel mHealth app for gambling disorder. The app capitalizes on smartphones' global positioning software (GPS) that recognizes a user's location to within 15 feet. Users will receive an alert of this go near a gambling venue. The project will conduct a 12-week pilot randomized clinical trial to test the short-term efficacy of the app with gambling disorder individuals.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALmHealth App
The app uses smartphones' global positioning software (GPS) that recognizes a user's location to within 15 feet. The app will construct a customizable geofence (e.g., 3 miles) around a gambler's favored gambling venue (e.g., casino, gas station). If the individual crosses the fence boundary his or her phone will raise the alarm with a personalized motivational message.
Sponsors
National Center for Responsible Gaming
St. Louis University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Currently meets DSM-5 criteria for gambling disorder * At least 4 non-online gambling episodes in past 60 days * Wagering at least $100 total over past 60 days * Willingness to accept random assignment * English speaking * Android phone user
Exclusion criteria
* Age \<18 years old * Severely disruptive behavior * Serious uncontrolled psychiatric behavior that requires acute psychiatric care * Decline permission to collect zero permission data from smartphone.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| App usage (feasibility) | From baseline to post-treatment (12 weeks) | Number of days the app is active on a user's smartphone. Days can range from 0 to 84. |
| Patient satisfaction with the gambling app | From baseline to post-treatment (12 weeks) | Investigator derived patient satisfaction self-report questionnaire. Five items, using a 7-point Likert scale from very dissatisfied (1) to very satisfied (7). Higher scores indicate a better outcome. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Gambling behavior via Timeline Followback (Weinstock, Whelan, & Meyers, 2004) | From baseline to post-treatment (12 weeks) | Self-report gambling frequency and intensity as assessed by the Gambling Timeline Followback - a retrospective self-report calendar. Gambling frequency can range from 0 to 84; gambling intensity is measured in $ and time (hours). Dollars wagered can range from $0 to unlimited $. Time is measured in hours and can range from 0 to \>1,000 hours. Higher scores indicate a worse outcome. |
| Gambling-related harms (Browne et al., 2018) | From baseline to post-treatment (12 weeks) | Self-reported gambling harms as assessed by the 72-item Gambling-Related Harms Questionnaire (yes/no responses). Scores range from 0 to 72. Higher scores indicate a worse outcome. |
| Quality of Life Inventory (Frisch et al., 1994). A self-reported quality of life measure assessing 17 domains of life for importance and satisfaction. | From baseline to post-treatment (12 weeks) | Self-report quality of life questionnaire. Participants rate 17 domains on importance (range not at all important \[0\] to extremely important \[2\]). The 17 domains are then rated on how satisfied the individual is regards to his or her life (-3 \[very dissatisfied\] to 3 \[very dissatisfied\]). A total score is then generated by summing the product of importance multiplied by satisfaction. Scores range from 0 to 102. Higher scores indicate a better outcome. |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed