Challenger - the Development and Initial Evaluation of a Smartphone Application for Social Anxiety Disorder

• Challenger, a newly developed smartphone application from Stockholm University, provides users with customized challenges. Based on the goals the user chooses, and the answers to questions regarding that goal, an appropriate challenge is created by the app. The user can follow their progress and history on a board game, where they move forward for each challenge they complete. They can also fill their own board with rewards that they find appealing and motivating. After a challenge completion, the user is prompted to write a note reflecting on the experience, and to report their anxiety level during the challenge. If the user so chooses, the note can then be sent anonymously, much like a message in a bottle, to another randomly selected user to provide supportive feedback. That feedback is sent back to the challangee which can then choose to "like", be indifferent to, or dislike (report abuse) the feedback. In summary, "Challenger" generates customized behavioral experiments, and exposure exercises which are performed in the patients vicinity, and provides the means to reflect on the experience and to also receive anonymous social community support. A set of valid and commonly used questionnaires were used in the study. Level of social anxiety symptoms was assessed using MINI-SPIN every other day. In addition, once a week PHQ9 and GAD7 were administered in the smartphone application in order to get a general level of depression and anxiety respectively. Preliminary results indicate that using Challenger decreases social anxiety and depressive symptoms, but data collection is still at an early stage, and we will know much more at the time of the conference. The app can be found at www.mobilKBT.se

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Challenger

smartphone

SAD

Psychology

psykologi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)