Online Personalized Normative Feedback to Foster Intention to Change and Help Seeking in Young Adults With Disordered Gambling and Trading Behaviors: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND

Despite the availability of treatment options, help-seeking rates among individuals with gambling problems remain low. To reach a broader population of those affected by disordered gambling, online and self-guided interventions have been developed. Personalized normative feedback (PNF) is one of the most widely used strategies for preventing gambling issues among young adults. However, most studies on PNF efficacy focus solely on its impact on the intensity and severity of gambling behavior, without exploring its potential to increase intention to change and help-seeking behaviors. Furthermore, there is a lack of studies assessing the efficacy of PNF in addressing emerging online gambling-like behaviors, such as betting within video games or excessive financial trading of high-risk assets (eg, cryptocurrencies), which have been linked to gambling disorder.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to (1) quantify intention to change and the prevalence of help-seeking behaviors in young adults in Spain with disordered gambling or trading behaviors and (2) assess the efficacy of online PNF in increasing these behaviors.

METHODS

A randomized controlled trial using a Solomon 3-group design was conducted with a sample of emerging adults aged 18 to 34 years. The study included 3 assessments: a pretest, an immediate posttest, and a 12-week follow-up assessment. Participants were randomized into 1 of 3 conditions, with the intervention group receiving online PNF. The primary outcomes were intention to change and help-seeking behaviors. Secondary outcomes included gambling and trading behaviors (intensity, frequency, and severity) and their longitudinal trajectories. Individual, interpersonal, and contextual factors will be assessed to identify the profile of individuals most likely to benefit from this intervention.

RESULTS

The study was funded in December 2023 by the Spanish Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and 2030 Agenda (SUBV23/00004) and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Miguel Hernández University. The first study assessment was conducted between December 2024 and January 2025. A total of 1889 people completed the eligibility assessment, of whom 1112 (58.9%) met the inclusion criteria (gambling or trading within the past 60 days) and were enrolled in the trial. The 12-week follow-up was finalized in March 2025, with 666 completing the final assessment (59.9% retention). Data collection has been completed, statistical analyses are ongoing, and primary results are expected to be published in March 2026.

CONCLUSIONS

By examining motivational outcomes rather than behavioral change alone, this trial addresses a key gap in the literature on digital interventions for gambling-related harm. Findings are expected to inform the development of scalable prevention and early intervention strategies targeting gambling and gambling-like behaviors in young adults.