Attention, Teleconferencing and Social Anxiety

Social Anxiety Disorder Clinical Trial

Official title:

Investigating Attentional Processes: Teleconferencing and Social Anxiety

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04729803
• Other study ID #: STUDY00000106
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: January 18, 2021
• Est. completion date: June 30, 2022

Study information

• Verified date: January 2024
• Source: University of Texas at Austin
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study involves completing some online assessments and an intervention for social anxiety that all involve interactions with other people on a teleconferencing call.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 53
• Est. completion date: June 30, 2022
• Est. primary completion date: June 30, 2022
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 75 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age 18-75

• Fluent in English because the data collection materials have not yet been standardized in other languages

• Having access to a computer with a webcam and ability to record audio

• Personal Report of Communication Apprehension > 80

• Leibowitz Social Anxiety Scale > 30

• Meets DSM-5 Criteria for Social Anxiety Disorder

Exclusion Criteria:

• Significant visual impairment precluding the use of the eye tracking equipment

• Current, or history of bipolar disorder; current, or history of psychosis

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Anxiety Disorders
• Phobia, Social
• Social Anxiety Disorder

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Experimental: Attention Guidance + Exposure
Participants will receive a brief standardized psychoeducation module, presented via a video recording. Participants will then complete up to 10 analogue teleconferencing calls, each lasting a maximum of two minutes. Between speeches participants will have a 1-minute break. Participants will complete the subjective units of distress scale (SUDS) before and after each speech trial. The experimental attention guidance condition: (1) the intervention rationale will include information about the importance of visually attending to the faces of the audience; (2) participants will be given target audience members to focus their gaze on during the their impromptu response. They will be told that they should look at and focus on the target audience member for the whole response.
• Active Comparator: Exposure Alone
Participants will receive a brief standardized psychoeducation module, presented via a video recording. Participants will then complete up to 10 analogue teleconferencing calls, each lasting a maximum of two minutes. Between speeches participants will have a 1-minute break. Participants will complete the subjective units of distress scale (SUDS) before and after each speech trial.
• Experimental: Attention Control + Exposure
Participants will receive a brief standardized psychoeducation module, presented via a video recording. F Participants will then complete up to 10 analogue teleconferencing calls, each lasting a maximum of two minutes. During each call participants will be prompted by one of the audience members. Between speeches participants will have a 1-minute break. Participants will complete the subjective units of distress scale (SUDS) before and after each speech trial. The experimental attention control condition: (1) the intervention rationale will include information about the importance of attention control; (2) participants will be given target at the center of the screen to focus their gaze on during the their impromptu response. They will be told that they should look at and focus on the target for the whole response.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Laboratory for the Study of Anxiety Disorders, University of Texas at Austin	Austin	Texas

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Texas at Austin

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Personal Report of Communication Apprehension Questionnaire	Assessment of communication concerns, range of scores is 24-120; higher scores are worse	prior to the first treatment session, an average of 2 days
Primary	Personal Report of Communication Apprehension Questionnaire	Assessment of communication concerns, range of scores is 24-120; higher scores are worse	1-week follow-up
Primary	Personal Report of Communication Apprehension Questionnaire	Assessment of communication concerns, range of scores is 24-120; higher scores are worse	2-week follow-up
Primary	Leibowitz Social Anxiety Scale Questionnaire	Assessment of general social anxiety, range of scores is 0-144; higher scores are worse	prior to the first treatment session, an average of 2 days
Primary	Leibowitz Social Anxiety Scale Questionnaire	Assessment of general social anxiety, range of scores is 0-144; higher scores are worse	1-week follow-up
Primary	Leibowitz Social Anxiety Scale Questionnaire	Assessment of general social anxiety, range of scores is 0-144; higher scores are worse	2-week follow-up