Self-help for Treating Social Anxiety Disorder: An Evaluation of a Mindfulness and Acceptance-based Approach

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is the most common anxiety disorder, affecting up to 10% of the population and causing significant distress. Fortunately, there are effective interventions including cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). However, only about a third of people with SAD seek treatment. There are a number of barriers to seeking treatment, including cost, availability, and stigma. Self-help may be one way to reach people who may not otherwise present for treatment. Research on self-help books for SAD based on CBT has yielded promising results. However, no research to date has examined the efficacy of ACT-based self-help for SAD. The primary purpose of the present study is to evaluate The Mindfulness and Acceptance-based Workbook for Social Anxiety and Shyness (Fleming & Kocovski, 2013), an ACT-based self-help book. Socially anxious participants will be randomly assigned to receive the workbook or be placed on a waitlist. It is hypothesized that workbook participants will report significantly reduced social anxiety at the end of eight weeks compared to waitlist participants. The secondary purpose is to evaluate how the treatment works. Increases in mindfulness and acceptance have been shown to lead to reduced social anxiety. These same variables will be examined in the present study. Finally, this research aims to examine variables that can predict who may do well in treatment. Given that two-thirds of people who meet criteria for this disorder will not seek traditional treatments, it is important to develop and evaluate alternative treatments, including those based on self-help.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Anxiety; Shyness
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: The Mindfulness and Acceptance-based Workbook for Social Anxiety and Shyness (Fleming & Kocovski, 2013)

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 170
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Ontario
    • Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L3C5
      • Wilfrid Laurier University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• must be seeking help for shyness/social anxiety

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control; Waitlist control
Experimental: Workbook; They will be directed to use the 8-week plan included in The Mindfulness and Acceptance-based Workbook for Social Anxiety and Shyness (Fleming & Kocovski, 2013), an ACT-based self-help book and to access mindfulness audio files located on the publisher's website (as described in the book).	Other: The Mindfulness and Acceptance-based Workbook for Social Anxiety and Shyness (Fleming & Kocovski, 2013); An acceptance and commitment therapy-based self-help workbook for social anxiety and shyness. It includes an 8-week program.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from Baseline to 4 and 8 weeks later in The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (Liebowitz, 1987)	Self-reported social anxiety scores. Each item is scored 0 (none) to 3 (severe) yielding a total between 0 and 72.	Baseline and 4 weeks and 8 weeks
Change from Baseline to 4 and 8 weeks later in the Freiberg Mindfulness Inventory (Buchheld, Grossman, & Walach, 2001)	Self-reported mindfulness. Each item is scored 0 (rarely) to 4 (almost always) yielding a total between and 0 and 56.	Baseline and 4 weeks and 8 weeks
Change from Baseline to 4 and 8 weeks later in the Social Anxiety - Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (MacKenzie & Kocovski, 2010)	Self-reported acceptance of social anxiety symptoms. Each item is scored 1 (never true) to 7 (always true) yielding a total between and 19 and 133.	Baseline and 4 weeks and 8 weeks
Change from Baseline to 4 and 8 weeks later in the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996)	Self-reported depression symptoms. Each item is scored 0 to 3 yielding a total between and 0 and 63.	Baseline and 4 weeks and 8 weeks
Treatment credibility will be assessed using the scale by Devilly and Borkovec (2000) one week following the start of treatment (consistent with Nordgreen et al., 2012).	This 6-item scale assesses the participants' idea of treatment credibility.	One week following the start of treatment

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Wilfrid Laurier University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Nancy L Kocovski, PhD, Wilfrid Laurier University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: March 1, 2015
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 1, 2016
• Study Completion (Actual): September 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 23, 2015
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 23, 2015
• First Posted (Estimate): March 27, 2015

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): November 25, 2016
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 23, 2016
• Last Verified: November 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Anxiety Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: WilfridLU