Attempts to reduce or quit gambling among people who gamble

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Author(s): Hodgins, David C. ; Williams, Robert J. ; Belanger, Yale D. ; Christensen, Darren R. ; El-Guebaly, Nady ; McGrath, Daniel S. ; Nicoll, Fiona ; Shaw, Carrie A. ; Stevens, Rhys M. G.

Journal: Frontiers in Psychiatry

Year Published: 2022

Date Added: December 01, 2022

This study examined past-year attempts to reduce or quit gambling among people who gamble. A total of 10,054 participants from across Canada were recruited from an online panel. The results showed that 5.7% of participants attempted to reduce or quit gambling in the past year. Among people with gambling problems, most people had attempted to reduce or quit gambling in the past year. Over 90% of these participants attempted to make the change on their own. Only 7.7% sought formal or informal treatment. The two common reasons for attempting self-change were not believing that one needed the help and being too ashamed to seek help. Over one-third rated their self-change attempt as quite or very successful.

Citation: Hodgins, D. C., Williams, R. J., Belanger, Y. D., Christensen, D. R., El-Guebaly, N., McGrath, D. S., Nicoll, F., Shaw, C. A., & Stevens, R. M. G. (2022). Making change: Attempts to reduce or stop gambling in a general population sample of people who gamble. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13, 892238. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.892238

Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.892238

Keywords: gambling disorder ; natural recovery ; treatment

Topics: Information for Treatment Providers

Conceptual Framework Factors: Resources - Harm Reduction, Prevention, and Protection ; Resources - Service Access and Use ; Gambling Resources ; Resources - Interventions

Study Design: Observational: Cross-sectional

Geographic Coverage: Canada

Study Population: People who reported gambling at least once a month in the past year (n = 10,054)

Sampling Procedure: Data were obtained from the Alberta Gambling Research Institute’s National Study on Gambling and Problem Gambling in Canada. Participants were recruited from an online panel of the survey firm Leger360. Email invitations were sent out to members of the online panel until at least 1400 completed surveys were obtained from each of the province or region (i.e., 1,400 each from the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and 1,400 from the four Atlantic provinces). The initial screening question identiﬁed people who reported they gambled at least once a month in the past year.

Study Funding:

This project was funded by the Alberta Gambling Research Institute.