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

NCT06681103 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: SUBV23/00004
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 1,112
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief 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:

• 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.

Conditions

Gambling Disorder

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Intention to change

  The study will assess intention to change and help-seeking behavior using three custom items. In the initial assessment, participants will respond to a dichotomous question regarding whether they have considered reducing or abandoning gambling/trading in the past year. They will also rate the likelihood of engaging in these behaviors over the next 12 months on a scale from 0% (not likely) to 100% (very likely). Finally, participants will indicate their goal regarding their gambling/trading behavior, choosing from options to reduce, increase, maintain, or cease the behavior.

  Baseline, immediate follow-up (after PONF), 3-month follow-up

• Treatment-seeking behavior

  Treatment-seeking behavior will be assessed during the initial evaluation using a the following question: "Have you ever sought professional help, advice from family or friends, or done something on your own to limit or reduce your \[gambling/trading\] behavior?" If participants answer "yes," they will complete the Help-Seeking Questionnaire (HSQ), which includes 14 items assessing in-person (e.g., seeing a psychologist), remote (e.g., calling a helpline), and self-directed (e.g., reading forums or searching websites) help-seeking behaviors.

  Baseline, immediate follow-up (after PONF), 3-month follow-up

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Gambling and trading behaviors

  Baseline, immediate follow-up (after PONF), 3-month follow-up

• Disordered gambling

  Baseline, 3-month follow-up

• Disordered trading

  Baseline, 3-month follow-up

Other Outcomes (4)

• Gambling and trading-related harms

  Baseline and 3-month follow-up

• Gambling and trading self-efficacy

  Baseline and 3-month follow-up

• Peer gambling and trading

  Baseline

Study Arms (3)

Personalized Online Normative Feedback (PONF)

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants in this group complete a pre-assessment measuring intention to change, help-seeking behavior, and gambling and trading behaviors (e.g., frequency and spending). They then receive personalized online normative feedback (PONF) based on their initial assessment and subsequently complete a post-assessment including the same outcomes. Within this intervention arm, participants are randomly assigned to one of two predefined assessment sequences (PNF-A vs. PNF-B), differing only in the timing of the post-intervention assessment of gambling and trading behaviors. This sequencing is implemented exclusively to support secondary analyses of potential reporting reactivity (e.g., social desirability) and does not involve any differences in intervention content, delivery, or assessment of the primary motivational outcomes.

Behavioral: Personalized Normative Feedback

Control group 1 (Assessment group)

NO INTERVENTION

Participants in this group will complete both pre- and post-assessments on intention to change, help-seeking behavior, and gambling/trading behaviors. However, they will not receive any feedback. This group serves as a comparison to both intervention groups.

Control group 2 (Delayed Assessment Group)

NO INTERVENTION

This group will complete only the post-assessment, measuring intention to change, help-seeking behavior, and gambling/trading behaviors, without completing a pre-test or receiving feedback, to independently analyze the immediate effects of the pre-test.

Interventions

Personalized Normative Feedback BEHAVIORAL

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.

Personalized Online Normative Feedback (PONF)

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 34 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may not qualify if:

• Engaged in trading or gambling activities (land-based or online) at least once per month in the past 60 days
• Aged 18-34 years
• Residing in Spain
• Provide informed consent to participate in initial online assessment, post-test, and follow-up
• Currently undergoing psychological or psychiatric treatment
• Scoring above 3 on the Oviedo Infrequency Scale (Fonseca-Pedrero et al., 2009), indicating potential random/pseudorandom or dishonest responses.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universidad Miguel Hernandez de Elche: lead
• Ministerio de Derechos Sociales, Consumo y Agenda 2030, Spain: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Miguel Hernández University

Elche, Alicante, 03202, Spain

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Gambling

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Risk-Taking; Behavior; Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders; Mental Disorders

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: TRIPLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: PhD

Model Details: This design follows a Solomon three-group structure, enabling the independent evaluation of the immediate effects that the pre-test assessment and the intervention may have on the study's dependent variables (intention to change and help-seeking behavior), as well as their maintenance three months after the intervention. The following experimental conditions will be established: (1) control group with pre- and post-test assessment (assessment group), (2) control group with post-test assessment only (delayed assessment group) and (3) intervention group with pre- and post-test assessment, which will also receive personalised online normative feedback on their gambling and trading behaviour after the initial assessment (PONF group). To adapt the PONF to each participant it is necessary to conduct a pre-test assessment, so an adaptation of Solomon's design will be used.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 7, 2024
• First Posted: November 8, 2024
• Study Start: December 20, 2024
• Primary Completion: June 30, 2025
• Study Completion: June 30, 2025
• Last Updated: January 30, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-01

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

ES (1)