A Quick and Simple Screening Method for Pathological and Problem Gamblers in Addiction Programs and Practices

Abstract

Despite high rates of comorbidity among pathological gambling, substance use disorders, and other psychiatric conditions, health professionals rarely screen their clients for gambling problems. We report on the performance of the NODS-CLiP, an existing brief, three-item screen for problem and pathological gambling, and an alternative four-item screen that demonstrates improved sensitivity, good positive and negative predictive power, and invariance across key demographic groups . Given the high rates of comorbidity, routine and accurate identification of gambling-related problems among individuals seeking help for substance abuse and related disorders is important. The original and the alternative brief screens are likely to be useful in a range of clinical settings.