| 1. |
- Carlbring, Per, et al.
(author)
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Therapist and Internet Administered One-Session Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Public Speaking Anxiety : A Randomized Controlled Trial
- 2018
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Fear of public speaking is common and for some individuals this interferes significantly with the person's life and causes marked distress. We wanted to test a newly developed virtual reality assisted 1-session in-person treatment (3 hours). The therapist guided session consisted of a series of behavioral experiments based on the expectancy violation principle. This was followed by a 4-week booster intervention delivered via the internet. Following a diagnostic interview a total of 50 individuals with a score of ≥ 60 on the Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety questionnaire were randomized to a treatment or a control condition. A total of 78% also met criteria for social anxiety disorder. Considering only having had one treatment session in-person the preliminary results were promising with a between group effect size on the primary outcome (Public Speaking Anxiety Scale) of Cohen’s d=1.32 before commencing the internet-based booster program. Four weeks later the between-group effect size was d=1.90. However, on the secondary outcome measures the effect sizes were more often moderate than large. At the time of the conference 6-month follow-up data will be available in addition to the already collected post-assessment data (analyzed according to the intention-to-treat principle).
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| 2. |
- Carlbring, Per, et al.
(author)
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Treat your social anxiety disorder with this gamified smartphone app
- 2016
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aim: Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a common debilitating mental illness with large negative effects on quality of life and economic productivity. Modern psychotherapy treatments utilizing cognitive–behavioral theory are increasingly delivered over the Internet and more recently using smartphone applications. The Challenger App written natively for the Apple iPhone was developed at the Stockholm University Department of Psychology for the treatment of SAD and uses a number of advanced features not previously seen in past mental health applications; these include real-time location awareness, notifications, anonymous social interaction between users, a high-degree of personalization and use of gamification techniques.Method: A total of 209 participants with a primary diagnosis of SAD were randomized to one of three groups: 1) Self-help book, 2) Self-help book + the Challenger app, or 3) waitlist. The treatment period lasted 6 weeks. Primary outcome measure was Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale self- report (LSAS-SR). Also included where the Quality of Life Inventory, Patient Health Questionnaire, and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7). Outcome was analyzed according to the intention to treat principle.Results: Both treatment groups were superior to the waitlist. On the main outcome measure (LSAS-SR) the effect size for the waitlist was Cohens d=0.14. The group that received the self-help book with the addition of the Challenger app was significantly superior (d=1.0) to just reading the self- help book (d=0.61). Participants requited by way of Newspaper advertisement were more likely to reach high end-state functioning (OR=4.1) and the same was true for participants without prior psychological treatment history as compared with having a previous experience (OR=4.4).Conclusion: Adding the smartphone app is a cost effective way of improving the outcome when treating SAD with a self-help book.
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| 3. |
- Forsell, E., et al.
(author)
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Overcoming procrastination : One-year follow-up and predictors of change in a randomized controlled trial of Internet-based cognitive behavior therapy
- 2016
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Procrastination; the purposeful delay of an intended course of action is, for many, a persistent behavior associated with reduced mood, increased stress, and poorer performance. 20 % of adults and 50 % of students experience significant difficulties with procrastination. Internet- based cognitive behavior therapy (ICBT) shows promise for several conditions, but has never been applied to procrastination. The current study examined the efficacy of ICBT for procrastination at post treatment and one-year follow-up, and investigated predictors of change.Method: Participants (N = 150) were randomized to 10 weeks of either guided self-help, unguided self-help, or wait-list control (receiving unguided self-help after the first treatment period). Outcome measures were the Pure Procrastination Scale (PPS), the Irrational Procrastination Scale (IPS), the Susceptibility to Temptation Scale, the Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment, and the Quality of Life Inventory. Intention-to-treat was used for all statistical analyses, with mixed-effects models to assess the effect of time and group.Results: Moderate to large effect sizes were obtained post treatment comparing guided and unguided self-help with wait-list control, the PPS, Cohen’s d = 0.70, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.29, 1.10], and d = 0.50, 95% CI [0.10, 0.90], and the IPS, d = 0.81 95% CI [0.40, 1.22], and d = 0.69 95% CI [0.29, 1.09]. Clinically significant change was achieved among 31.3–40.0% for guided self-help and 24.0–36.0% for unguided self-help. Neither treatment condition was superior on any outcome measure, Fs (98, 65.17-72.55) < 1.70, p > .19. One-year follow-up data has been collected and the results will be available at the time of the conference, including predictors of change.Conclusion: ICBT could be useful for self-reported problems of procrastination, with results at one-year follow-up and predictors of change revealing the long-term benefit and variables associated with successful treatment outcome.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Ma, Lichen, et al.
(author)
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Attentional bias modification in virtual reality
- 2019
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In: Book of Abstracts. ; , s. 227-227
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Attentional bias modification (ABM) aims to reduce anxiety by attenuating bias towards threatening information. The current study incorporated virtual reality (VR) technology and 3-dimensional stimuli with a dot-probe task to evaluate the effects of a VR-based ABM training on attentional bias and anxiety symptoms. A total of 100 participants were randomised to four training groups. Attentional bias was assessed at pre- and post-training, and anxiety symptoms were assessed at pre-training, post-training, 1-week follow-up, and 3-months follow-up. Change in anxiety did not correlate with change in bias. No significant difference in bias was observed from pre- to post-ABM or between groups. For anxiety symptoms, participants showed significant reduction in anxiety scores over time. However, no other significant main effect or interactions were found. A clinically significant change analysis revealed that 9% of participants were classified as ‘recovered’ at 3-months follow-up.
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| 6. |
- Rozental, Alexander, et al.
(author)
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Consensus statement on defining and measuring negative effects of Internet interventions
- 2014
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Introduction: Internet interventions have a great potential for alleviating emotional distress and promoting mental health. A number of clinical trials have demonstrated their efficacy for several psychiatric conditions, and Internet interventions will likely become a common alternative to face-to-face treatments. Meanwhile, research has paid little attention to the potential negative effects associated with treatment, warranting further investigation of the possibility that some patients might deteriorate or experience adverse events. Evidence from face-to-face treatments suggests that negative effects afflict 5-10% of all patients undergoing treatment in terms of deterioration alone. However, there is currently a lack of consensus on how to define and measure negative effects in psychotherapy research in general, leaving researchers without practical guidelines for monitoring and reporting negative effects in clinical trials.Method: The current paper seeks to provide recommendations that could promote the study of negative effects in Internet interventions with the aim of increasing the knowledge of its occurrence and characteristics. Ten leading experts in the field of Internet interventions were invited to participate and share their perspective on how to explore negative effects, using the Delphi technique to facilitate a dialogue and reach an agreement.Results: The importance of conducting further research on negative effects is emphasized, and suggestions on how to classify and measure negative effects in Internet interventions are provided, involving methods from both quantitative and qualitative research. Potential mechanisms underlying negative effects are also presented, differentiating common factors shared with face-to-face treatments from those unique to treatments delivered via the Internet.Conclusion: Negative effects are to be expected and need to be acknowledged to a greater extent, advising researchers to systematically probe for negative effects whenever conducting clinical trials involving Internet interventions, as well as to share their findings in scientific journals.
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| 7. |
- Rozental, Alexander, et al.
(author)
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Overcoming procrastination : One-year follow-up and predictors of change in a randomized controlled trial of Internet-based cognitive behavior therapy
- 2016
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aim: Procrastination refers to the purposeful delay of an intended course of action and can become a persistent behavioral pattern associated with reduced mood, increased stress, and poorer performance. One-fifth of the adult population and half of the student population experience significant difficulties due to procrastination, but has received little attention in clinical research. Meanwhile, Internet-based cognitive behavior therapy (ICBT) has been found promising for several conditions, but has not yet been used in relation to procrastination. The current study thus aimed to examine the efficacy of ICBT for procrastination at post treatment and one-year follow-up, as well as to investigate predictors of change.Method: Participants (N = 150) were randomized to a ten-week treatment programme; guided self-help, unguided self-help, and wait-list control (receiving unguided self-help after the first treatment period). Outcome measures were administered at screening, post treatment, one-year follow-up, or weekly, consisting of the Pure Procrastination Scale (PPS), the Irrational Procrastination Scale (IPS), the Susceptibility to Temptation Scale, the Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment, and the Quality of Life Inventory. Intention-to-treat was used for all statistical analyses, with mixed-effects models to assess the effect of time and group.Results: Moderate to large effect sizes were obtained at post treatment comparing guided and unguided self-help with wait-list control, the PPS, Cohen’s d = 0.70, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.29, 1.10], and d = 0.50, 95% CI [0.10, 0.90], and the IPS, d = 0.81 95% CI [0.40, 1.22], and d = 0.69 95% CI [0.29, 1.09]. Clinically significant change was achieved among 31.3–40.0% for guided self-help, compared with 24.0–36.0% for unguided self-help. Neither of the treatment conditions was found to be superior on any of the outcome measures, Fs (98, 65.17-72.55) < 1.70, p > .19. One-year follow-up data has just been collected and the results of will be available at the time of the conference, including predictors of change.Conclusion: ICBT could be useful for managing self-reported problems of procrastination, with results at one-year follow-up and predictors of change revealing the long-term benefit and possible variables responsible for a successful treatment outcome.
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