TY - JOUR
T1 - Graded Exposure Therapy for Online Mobile Smartphone Sports Betting Addiction
T2 - A Case Series Report
AU - Riley, Ben J.
AU - Harris, Sharon
AU - Nye, Tracey
AU - Javidi-Hosseinabad, Zhila
AU - Baigent, Michael
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Advances in technology and increased usage of electronic mobile devices over the past decade have changed the way gamblers engage with online gambling. The convenience of mobile electronic devices is understood to be a major contributor to the increase of online gambling, which in turn has been implicated in the growth of sports betting. Emerging evidence suggests several sources of differentiation between mobile and other online gambling, which have important psychological implications. Given the inherent differences, we cannot conclude that evidence for the effectiveness of treatment for non-smartphone problem gambling (PG) automatically translates to online smartphone sports betting PG. The aim of this study, therefore, was to describe the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of cue exposure therapy (CET) to treat individuals presenting to a community-based PG therapy service with an online smartphone sports betting addiction, using a case series design. Six men (21–42 years old) received up to 10 weekly 60-min manualised CET sessions. Outcome measures were gambling harm, gambling urge, gambling cognitions, psychological distress, and functional impairment. All six participants completed a course of CET averaging 8.33 sessions (SD = 1.75) and reported improvement across each of the outcome measures. Psychological distress scores had reduced to the non-clinical range for all six participants and five participants scored below the cut offs for PG and functional impairment at 1 month follow up. The findings provide preliminary proof of concept evidence for the feasibility and efficacy of CET for online smartphone sports betting addiction.
AB - Advances in technology and increased usage of electronic mobile devices over the past decade have changed the way gamblers engage with online gambling. The convenience of mobile electronic devices is understood to be a major contributor to the increase of online gambling, which in turn has been implicated in the growth of sports betting. Emerging evidence suggests several sources of differentiation between mobile and other online gambling, which have important psychological implications. Given the inherent differences, we cannot conclude that evidence for the effectiveness of treatment for non-smartphone problem gambling (PG) automatically translates to online smartphone sports betting PG. The aim of this study, therefore, was to describe the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of cue exposure therapy (CET) to treat individuals presenting to a community-based PG therapy service with an online smartphone sports betting addiction, using a case series design. Six men (21–42 years old) received up to 10 weekly 60-min manualised CET sessions. Outcome measures were gambling harm, gambling urge, gambling cognitions, psychological distress, and functional impairment. All six participants completed a course of CET averaging 8.33 sessions (SD = 1.75) and reported improvement across each of the outcome measures. Psychological distress scores had reduced to the non-clinical range for all six participants and five participants scored below the cut offs for PG and functional impairment at 1 month follow up. The findings provide preliminary proof of concept evidence for the feasibility and efficacy of CET for online smartphone sports betting addiction.
KW - Case report
KW - Gambling disorder
KW - Online gambling
KW - Problem gambling
KW - Smartphone
KW - Sports betting
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099971460&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10899-021-10006-5
DO - 10.1007/s10899-021-10006-5
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85099971460
SN - 1050-5350
VL - 37
SP - 1263
EP - 1275
JO - Journal of Gambling Studies
JF - Journal of Gambling Studies
IS - 4
ER -