TY - JOUR
T1 - Therapist-delivered and self-help interventions for gambling problems
T2 - A review of contents
AU - Rodda, Simone
AU - Merkouris, Stephanie S.
AU - Abraham, Charles
AU - Hodgins, David C.
AU - Cowlishaw, Sean
AU - Dowling, Nicki A.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding sources: This research was funded by Gambling Research Ontario Exchange. CA’s time was partially funded by the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care of the South West Peninsula (PenCLAHRC). The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the funding agencies.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Journal of Behavioral Addictions. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/6
Y1 - 2018/6
N2 - Background and aims: To date, no systematic approach to identifying the content and characteristics of psychological interventions used to reduce gambling or problem gambling has been developed. This study aimed to develop a reliable classification system capable of identifying intervention characteristics that could, potentially, account for greater or lesser effectiveness. Methods: Intervention descriptions were content analyzed to identify common and differentiating characteristics. A coder manual was developed and applied by three independent coders to identify the presence or absence of defined characteristics in 46 psychological and self-help gambling interventions. Results: The final classification taxonomy, entitled Gambling Intervention System of CharacTerization (GIST), included 35 categories of intervention characteristics. These were assigned to four groups: (a) types of change techniques (18 categories; e.g., cognitive restructuring and relapse prevention), (b) participant and study characteristics (6 categories; e.g., recruitment strategy and remuneration policy), and (c) characteristics of the delivery and conduct of interventions (11 categories; e.g., modality of delivery and therapist involvement), and (d) evaluation characteristics (e.g., type of control group). Interrater reliability of identification of defined characteristics was high (κ = 0.80-1.00). Discussion: This research provides a tool that allows systematic identification of intervention characteristics, thereby enabling consideration, not only of whether interventions are effective or not, but also of which domain-relevant characteristics account for greater or lesser effectiveness. The taxonomy also facilitates standardized description of intervention content in a field in which many diverse interventions have been evaluated. Conclusion: Application of this coding tool has the potential to accelerate the development of more efficient and effective therapist-delivered and self-directed interventions to reduce gambling problems.
AB - Background and aims: To date, no systematic approach to identifying the content and characteristics of psychological interventions used to reduce gambling or problem gambling has been developed. This study aimed to develop a reliable classification system capable of identifying intervention characteristics that could, potentially, account for greater or lesser effectiveness. Methods: Intervention descriptions were content analyzed to identify common and differentiating characteristics. A coder manual was developed and applied by three independent coders to identify the presence or absence of defined characteristics in 46 psychological and self-help gambling interventions. Results: The final classification taxonomy, entitled Gambling Intervention System of CharacTerization (GIST), included 35 categories of intervention characteristics. These were assigned to four groups: (a) types of change techniques (18 categories; e.g., cognitive restructuring and relapse prevention), (b) participant and study characteristics (6 categories; e.g., recruitment strategy and remuneration policy), and (c) characteristics of the delivery and conduct of interventions (11 categories; e.g., modality of delivery and therapist involvement), and (d) evaluation characteristics (e.g., type of control group). Interrater reliability of identification of defined characteristics was high (κ = 0.80-1.00). Discussion: This research provides a tool that allows systematic identification of intervention characteristics, thereby enabling consideration, not only of whether interventions are effective or not, but also of which domain-relevant characteristics account for greater or lesser effectiveness. The taxonomy also facilitates standardized description of intervention content in a field in which many diverse interventions have been evaluated. Conclusion: Application of this coding tool has the potential to accelerate the development of more efficient and effective therapist-delivered and self-directed interventions to reduce gambling problems.
KW - Change techniques
KW - Personalized feedback
KW - Reporting guidelines
KW - Self-help
KW - Taxonomy
KW - Treatment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85049736532&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1556/2006.7.2018.44
DO - 10.1556/2006.7.2018.44
M3 - Review Article
C2 - 29895185
AN - SCOPUS:85049736532
SN - 2062-5871
VL - 7
SP - 211
EP - 226
JO - Journal of Behavioral Addictions
JF - Journal of Behavioral Addictions
IS - 2
ER -
