<p>The General Population’s View on Where to Seek Treatment for Gambling Disorder – a General Population Survey</p>

Abstract

Background: More remains to be understood about attitudes towards treatment for gambling disorder and where to seek treatment. Given the low degree of treatment seeking behaviour in this condition, it may be of interest to study people's perception about where to seek help in case of problem gambling. From a study originally aiming to address health correlates of problem gambling, the present sub-study aimed to examine the general population's attitudes towards where to advise a person with problem gambling to seek treatment, and correlates of recommending a formal professional treatment modality. Methods: A cross-sectional general population web survey in Sweden (N=2,038, 55% women, 6% lifetime problem gamblers) was conducted. Preferred advice for gamblingrelated treatment seeking was defined with a question asking about where one would hypothetically advise a friend to seek help for gambling addiction. Advice for professional vs peer support help was compared with respect to individual characteristics, in problem gamblers and non-problem gamblers. Results: Fifty percent preferred to recommend peer support help for gambling, whereas among professional treatment options, the largest share preferred primary care (22%) or psychiatry/addiction psychiatry (18%), while few suggested occupational health-care (6%) or social services (3%). Opting for a professional treatment modality for problem gambling was unrelated to one's own problem gambling, whereas those recommending professional treatment were younger and more likely to report psychological distress. In problem gamblers specifically, history of indebtedness was associated with recommending professional treatment. Conclusion: Many people may not perceive gambling disorder to require professional treatment, and may recommend peer support outside of formal treatment systems. Younger individuals, as well as those with a personal history of psychological treatment needs, may be more prone to recommending formal treatment. The findings may have implications for treatment trajectories and may facilitate overcoming perceived treatment barriers.

Changes in Gambling Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Web Survey Study in Sweden

“…Related to this, we can conclude that problem and/or moderate-risk gambling was markedly higher than what has been reported in general population studies from the same setting [47]. Thus, it is very likely that a web survey addressing gambling-related issues may attract a sample of respondents with a higher involvement in-or interest in-gambling, which also has been seen in previous studies from our group using a similar methodology and in samples recruited in the same way [24][25][26].…”

“…Members of the web panel received a link to a survey, and voluntarily accepted to fill out the survey. Participation was rewarded with credits through the company's own internal credit system, with a value corresponding to around 1.50 Euros; the present type of study recruitment, from the same company, has been carried out by the research group in several recent publications in the present field of research [24][25][26].…”

Who chooses to enroll in a new national gambling self-exclusion system? A general population survey in Sweden

“…In the present study, the researchers collaborated with the companies I-Mind consulting and Patient Information Broker (PIB), who gathered the data from an anonymized procedure, where Userneeds web panel members' survey answers were sent to the authors were completely anonymized, and IP addresses of the individuals were blinded and impossible to trace back. The present type of data inclusion, from the same market survey company and using the same methodology, has been used in a number of prior studies in the present setting with a focus on gambling and online behavior in the general population [30][31][32].…”

Transtorno de Jogo: contribuição da abordagem psicodinâmica no tratamento

“…Mladenoviü, Lažetiü, Leþiü-Toševski e Dimitrijeviü (2015) apontam que muitos profissionais não se sentem preparados para identificar tampouco tratar TJ. Em estudo recente na Suécia, Håkansson & Ford (2019) concluíram que, na população geral, muitos acreditam que o TJ não requer tratamento profissional e recomendam suporte fora do sistema formal saúde.…”