Integrative Couple Treatment for Pathological Gambling (ICT-PG)

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

Status: Completed

Conditions: Pathological Gambling

Treatments: Behavioral: Integrative Couple Treatment for Pathological Gambling (ICT-PG); Behavioral: Usual individual/group treatment

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02240485

CER-10-156-06.13

Details and patient eligibility

About

The aim of the study is to compare marital treatment to individual treatment for pathological gambling.

Full description

The study as two goals: evaluate the efficacy of couple treatment for pathological gambling and develop a better understanding of the individual (substance use, mental health) and couple dimensions (communication, marital satisfaction, violence) as intermediate variables explaining this efficacy. Couples will be randomized between the couple treatment and the treatment as usual (individual or group). The experimental couple treatment is offered over 8 to 12 sessions of 90 minutes. The couple treatment called (Integrative Couple Therapy for Pathological Gambling - ICT-PG) is inspired by the "Alcohol Behavior Couple Therapy" from Epstein and McCrady, to which the team added diverse components to adjust to gamblers. During the sessions, the focus is on a) reducing/stopping gambling behaviors, b) helping the partner to stop behaviors facilitating gambling habits and rise the frequency of behaviors incompatible with gambling habits and c) improve marital components (communication, sharing positive moments, negotiation, mutual support).

The control group receives individual or group treatment as already offered by the specialized centers in addiction. Their partner can receive individual intervention if desired. All participants are recruited in Specialized Addiction Treatment Centers in Quebec province, Canada. Evaluation of participants is done at admission, three, nine and 18 months post-admission.

Repeated measures ANOVA will be used to compared evolutions of groups over time. Multiple regression will allow the estimation of components roles into as intermediate variables to predict rehabilitation.

Enrollment: 80 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Living together for at least 1 year
• Diagnosis of pathological gambling (WMH-CIDI) during the last 12 months
• The gambler has not received treatment for their gambling for at least 6 months (excluding GA)
• Presence of gambling behavior in the past 3 months
• Degree of commitment to the couple indicating a desire to continue the relationship (score of 7 - MSI)

Exclusion criteria

• Alcohol/Drug Dependence gambler/partner (Severity of Alcohol Dependence Data questionnaire - SADD >17 included in DEBA-A; Severity of Dependence Scale - SDS > 5 Included in DEBA-D)
• Gambling problem for the partner (DEBA-Jeu > 10)
• Presence of serious acts of violence endangering the safety of both spouses (CTS-2)
• Disorder and serious mental health unstabilized one of two members of the couple (ASI: psychological scale)
• Antisocial personality disorder or severe limit ( GAIN: 9 + Scale BCS / CDS)
• Scenario with strong suicidal ideation or attempt in the last 30 days or less in the partner (ASI: psychological scale)
• Low degree of commitment in the relationship of a risk of separation (8 + MSI)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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80 participants in 2 patient groups

Integrative Couple Treatment for Pathological Gambling (ICT-PG)

Experimental group

Description:

Couple therapy: The experimental couple treatment is offered over 8 to 12 sessions of 90 minutes. The couple treatment called (Integrative Couple Treatment for Pathological Gambling - ICT-PG) is inspired by the "Alcohol Behavior Couple Therapy" from Epstein and McCrady, to which the team added diverse components to adjust to gamblers. During the sessions, the focus is on a) reducing/stopping gambling behaviors, b) helping the partner to stop behaviors facilitating gambling habits and rise the frequency of behaviors incompatible with gambling habits and c) improve marital components (communication, sharing positive moments, negotiation, mutual support).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Integrative Couple Treatment for Pathological Gambling (ICT-PG)

Usual individual/group treatment

Active Comparator group

Description:

Usual individual/group treatment: The control group receive individual or group treatment as already offered by the specialized centers in addiction.Their partner can receive individual intervention if desired.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Usual individual/group treatment