Contingency Management as an Adjunct Treatment for Rural and Remote Disordered Gamblers

Gambling Disorder Clinical Trial

Official title:

Piloting the Addition of Contingency Management to Best Practice Counselling as an Adjunct Treatment for Rural and Remote Disordered Gamblers

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02953899
• Other study ID #: 2016-080
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: November 2016
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2024

Study information

• Verified date: December 2023
• Source: University of Lethbridge
• Contact: Darren R Christensen, PhD
• Phone: 403-329-5124
• Email: darren.christensen[@]uleth.ca
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this project is to pilot contingency management as an adjunct treatment to counselling as usual using internet delivered video-conferencing applications for remote disordered gamblers. This project further investigates the impact of adding contingency management to counselling to improve counselling attendance and retention and uses internet-delivered approaches to assist rural and remote disordered gamblers gain access to counselling treatments.

Description:

The chosen methodology is a randomised clinical trial where participants are allocated into one of two conditions; Contingency Management and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CM+), or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy alone (CBT) for the treatment of disordered gambling. Participants will experience a battery of tests pre- and post-treatment examining clinical, psychological, and behavioural issues, including co-morbid substance use. Alberta Rural Development Network (ARDN) affiliates will be provided with information regarding how participants can access the Qualtrics study site (e.g., an on-line survey hosting company) and will be individually directed to the study site by the principal investigator to complete the consent form and the base-line assessments. Counselling will be provided free of charge using Skype or Facetime video-conferencing internet applications. Participation in each condition will last 14 weeks: 12 weeks for treatment, and 2 weeks of assessments (one week prior to treatment and one week post treatment). Pre-treatment assessments (including demographic information) will take approximately 30-45 minutes, as will the post-treatment assessments. The progress check-ups by the Principal Investigator will take 5 to 10 minutes. A subset of treatment seekers, counsellors, and community/project stakeholders (e.g., ARDN affiliates) will also be chosen to participate in qualitative interviews to explore their experiences as well as their perceptions regarding the utility of the program for residents of rural and remote areas. The qualitative interviews will take approximately 30-60 minutes.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 54
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2024
• Est. primary completion date: December 31, 2024
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 70 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• capable of providing written consent,
• received a diagnosis of gambling disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2013),
• gambled within the last month,
• live in a rural or remote location, and
• speak English

Exclusion Criteria:

• Medically unmanaged psychiatric or neurological disorder(s) except for disordered gambling

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Gambling
• Gambling Disorder

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Contingency Management
In addition to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, this intervention uses small incentives to reinforce study attendance and gambling abstinence.
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
This intervention uses psychoeducation, behavioural strategies, and cognitive restructuring to assist the participant in their efforts to become abstinent from gambling.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Canada	University of Lethbridge	Lethbridge	Alberta

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Lethbridge	Rural Development Network

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Canada, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Gambling Abstinence	The total number of sessions that a participant provided evidence of gambling abstinence in the study	12 weeks
Secondary	Session Attendance	The total number of sessions that a participant attended the study	12-weeks
Secondary	Study Retention	The total number of weeks that a participant attended the study	12-weeks