Check Your Gambling (CYG)

Description:

Check Your Gambling is a personalised feedback intervention for problem gamblers. The site presents a series of questions relating to your gambling activities and their consequences, and basic demographic details. Once you have completed the questions (which only takes a few minutes), you are presented with personalised feedback. This feedback includes a comparison of your gambling behaviour with normative data; a summary of your overall rating along with a description of what it means (non-problem gambler, low-risk gambler, moderate-risk gambler, problem gambler); and a summary of cognitive distortions about gambling with a summary about the error of each belief. Also included are some suggested techniques that could be used to lower the risk associated with your gambling. The length of the feedback varies depending on your answers, but should take no more than 10 to 20 minutes to read.

Service URL:

http://www.checkyourgambling.net

Agency Responsible:

Evolution Health Systems Inc.

Details

Format:

Website.

Intervention Type:

Educational (primarily educational material or psychoeducation). Includes normative feedback

Course Length:

Short (less than 1 module or equivalent). Takes less than 20 minutes

Support Option:

Automated only. Provided through personalised feedback

Target Audience

Primary Category:

Gambling.

Target Audience:

Adult.

Languages:

English and French. French (Canadian)

Access

Fee:

Free.

Access:

Open: No registration required.

Contact Details:

bizdev@evolutionhs.com

Research evidence

Research Trials:

2

Research RCTs:

0

Outcome Summary:

The effectiveness of the content of Checking Your Gambling (CYG) intervention has been examined in two studies to date - however neither used the online version; participants were screened over the telephone and received their personalised feedback in the mail. Furthermore, the findings from these studies paint a mixed picture. Results from the initial pilot study were promising - participants who received the personalised feedback (the key feature of the CYG intervention) reported spending less money on gambling at the 3 months follow-up than participants in a wait-list control condition. However, in the second larger scale study the findings were more complex. This study included three groups: the first group received the CYG personalised feedback, the second received similar feedback but without the 'personalised' element, and the third was a wait-list control who did not receive any feedback. No significant impact of receiving the CYG personalised feedback compared to no feedback was found - however participants who received the partial, non-personalised feedback reduced the number of days they gambled compared to the control group. Therefore further investigation is warranted, utilising the online version, before its rating can be improved.

Recommended rating, reviewer 1:

Recommended rating, reviewer 2:

Read more about Beacon's Smiley Rating System.

Research paper citations

Evidence evaluation studies:
Cunningham, J.A., Hodgins, D.C., Toneatto, T., Murphy, M. (2012) A Randomized Controlled Trial Of a Personalized Feedback Intervention for Problem Gamblers. Plus One, 7(2): e31586.

Cunningham, J. A., Hodgins, D. C., Toneatto, T., Rai, A., & Cordingley, J. (2009). Pilot study of a personalized feedback intervention for problem gamblers. Behavior Therapy, 40(3), 219-24.

Additional references:
Cunningham, J.A., Hodgins, D.C., Toneatto, T. (2011) Pilot study of an Internet-based personalized feedback intervention for problem gamblers. Journal of Gambling Issues, 26.