Virtual Reality Exposure for Public Speaking Anxiety

Public Speaking Anxiety Clinical Trial

— VRanx  

Official title:

Virtual Reality Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Public Speaking Anxiety

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Not yet recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT06214039
• Other study ID #: VRanx_001
• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: January 2024
• Est. completion date: May 2026

Study information

• Verified date: November 2023
• Source: Vilnius University
• Contact: Jonas Eimontas, PhD
• Phone: +37052667615
• Email: jonas.eimontas[@]fsf.vu.lt
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study aims to examine the efficacy of exposure using virtual reality (VR) for public speaking anxiety in young adults in two treatment arms: a one-session VR exposure therapy with a 4-week online transition intervention versus a three-session VR exposure therapy with a 4-week online transition intervention. Previous studies have demonstrated that one-session therapy (OST) is comparable to prolonged exposure-based therapies in terms of effectively reducing public speaking anxiety. Moreover, VR offers many benefits compared to in-person exposure, namely the ability to produce anxiety-evoking stimuli without having to leave the therapist's room. However, OST VR exposure has not been directly compared to prolonged VR exposure and not for public speaking anxiety.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Enrollment: 80
• Est. completion date: May 2026
• Est. primary completion date: May 2025
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 30 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• aged 18-30 and studying their first tertiary degree;
• experiencing a significant level of public speaking anxiety (60+ on PSAS);
• able to use a computer and have access to the internet for the duration of the study;
• able to understand, write and speak in Lithuanian;
• available to participate in one or three in-person intervention sessions and can devote the time to participate in a 4-week online program following the intervention sessions.

Exclusion Criteria:

• a history of seizures or a history of epilepsy;
• other significant medical conditions that would prevent them from participating in the program;
• high levels of depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 rating of 15 and above and mentions of suicidal ideation) or other significant psychiatric conditions that would interfere with participation in the program;
• a tendency to have extreme seasickness reactions or a history of adverse physical reactions to virtual reality experiences or difficulty with or lack of stereoscopic vision;
• current involvement in other psychological interventions such as psychological counseling or psychotherapy;
• use of psychoactive drugs, unless stable for three months;
• current participation in other programs aimed at reducing public speaking anxiety.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Anxiety Disorders
• Public Speaking Anxiety

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Exposure in virtual reality and text based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for public speaking anxiety
A 3-hour one session exposure therapy for public speaking anxiety

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Lithuania	Vilnius University	Vilnius

Sponsors (4)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Vilnius University	Linkoeping University, Stockholm University, Thomas More University of Applied Sciences

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Lithuania, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Other	Subjective Units of Distress (SUD)	Each measure will be rated on a scale from 0 to 100. Higher number indicates higher distress.	Pre-intervention, immediately after the intervention
Primary	Public Speaking Anxiety Scale (PSAS), (Bartholomay & Houlihan, 2016).	Canonical total score will be used. Measure is self-rated, online. The scale consists of 17 self-report statements measured on a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 "not at all", to 5 "extremely". A higher score indicates higher levels of experienced public speaking anxiety.	Pre-treatment, mid-treatment, immediately after the intervention, 3 and 12 months post-treatment
Secondary	Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale - Self-Report (LSAS-SR), (Liebowitz, 2003; Rytwinski et al., 2009)	Canonical total score will be used. Measure is self-rated, online. Items are rated using 4-point Likert scales ranging from 0 to 3. A higher score indicates more severe symptoms.	Pre-treatment, mid-treatment, immediately after the intervention, 3 and 12 months post-treatment
Secondary	Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (BFNE), (Leary, 1983)	Canonical total score will be used. Measure is self-rated, online. The BFNE is a 12-item, 5-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 ""not at all" to 5 "extremely". Higher scores indicate higher fear.	Pre-treatment, mid-treatment, immediately after the intervention, 3 and 12 months post-treatment
Secondary	Igroup Presence Questionnaire (IPQ)	Canonical total score will be used. Measure is self-rated, online. Each of the 14 items is rated on a 7-point Likert scale and the score is calculated by summing the ratings for each item.	Pre-treatment, mid-treatment, immediately after the intervention, 3 and 12 months post-treatment
Secondary	Patient health questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9), (Spitzer et al., 1999)	Canonical total score will be used. Measure is self-rated, online. PHQ-9 consists of 9 items that are rated depending on how often the symptoms were bothersome using a 4-point scale, ranging from 0 "not at all" to 3 "nearly every day". The ratings are summed for the total score and higher scores indicates more severe depression symtpoms.	Pre-treatment, mid-treatment, immediately after the intervention, 3 and 12 months post-treatment