Examining the Effects of an Improvisation Group

April 27, 2018 updated by: Juliana Tobon, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton

Examining the Effects of an Improvisation Group on Social Anxiety Among Help-seeking Youth

This study is taking place to examine the preliminary effects of improvisational therapy (improv group) on social anxiety for youth at the Youth Wellness Centre (YWC). The improv group will run for 12-weeks as a drop-in group. A typical session will begin with stretching, simple breathing and an activity to promote group cohesion. Following this, improvisation games and activities will be introduced with the goal of promoting the following skills: assertiveness, acceptance, problem solving, co-operate skills, non-verbal communication, mindfulness, and memory. Youth who consent to the study will be asked to complete a set of brief questionnaires the first time they attend one of the sessions. Youth who have attended at least 3 sessions will be asked again to complete questionnaires following the completion of week 12 session. Youth will also rate their anxiety and distress on a simple rating scale at the beginning and end of each session. Additionally, all participants (who have attended three or more sessions) will be invited to complete a 30 to 45 minute qualitative interview following the 12 week session. Participants are predicted to show a decrease in social anxiety, generalized anxiety and depression symptoms, and an increase in self-esteem, and perceived social support.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

5

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Canada
    • Ontario
      • Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L9C3L7
        • Youth Wellness Centre

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

17 years to 25 years (ADULT, CHILD)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • help-seeking youth
  • ages 17-25

Exclusion Criteria:

  • will NOT be excluded on the basis of mental health or addiction concerns

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: OTHER
  • Allocation: NA
  • Interventional Model: SINGLE_GROUP
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Attending Improvisation Group
Attended 3 or more Improvisation Group sessions
Other: Improvisation Group
The aim of this pilot study is to investigate the effects of improvisational comedy in a group of help-seeking youth at risk of developing a range of mental health disorders, including social anxiety.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7)
Time Frame: Pre-group and 12-weeks later (post group)
A seven-item self-report anxiety questionnaire designed to monitor and assess the severity of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms.
Pre-group and 12-weeks later (post group)
Change in Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN)
Time Frame: Pre-group and 12-weeks later (post group)
A seventeen-item questionnaire used to measure the severity of social anxiety.
Pre-group and 12-weeks later (post group)
Change in Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS)
Time Frame: Pre and post every improv session for a duration of 12-weeks
A thermometer scale used to track anxiety before and after each session
Pre and post every improv session for a duration of 12-weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)
Time Frame: Pre-group and 12-weeks later (post group)
A nine-item questionnaire used to measure depression
Pre-group and 12-weeks later (post group)
Change in Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10)
Time Frame: Pre-group and 12-weeks later (post group)
A 10-item questionnaire intended to measure distress based on questions about anxiety and depressive symptoms.
Pre-group and 12-weeks later (post group)
Change in Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES)
Time Frame: Pre-group and 12-weeks later (post group)
A 10-item questionnaire used to measure self-esteem.
Pre-group and 12-weeks later (post group)
Change in Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS)
Time Frame: Pre-group and 12-weeks later (post group)
A 12-item questionnaire designed to measure perception of support from 3 sources: family, friends and significant other
Pre-group and 12-weeks later (post group)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Juliana Tobon, PhD.,C.Psych, St. Joseph's Research Institute

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (ACTUAL)

March 6, 2017

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

August 31, 2017

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

August 31, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 3, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 8, 2017

First Posted (ACTUAL)

May 10, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

April 30, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 27, 2018

Last Verified

April 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2927

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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