Text Message Treatment for Social Anxiety

Computerized Treatment for Social Anxiety

This is an intervention study designed to evaluate a text message based safety behavior fading treatment for people with social anxiety disorder.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Social Anxiety
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Safety Behavior Fading; Behavioral: Present Centered

Detailed Description

This study hopes to assess whether a month long text message based safety behavior fading protocol is effective in reducing safety behaviors and social anxiety symptoms. Over the course of four consecutive weeks, text messages will be sent to participants the first day of the study and every other day for four weeks (14 texts in total). These text messages will remind participants to either avoid using their three most engaged in safety behaviors (assessed at pre-treatment) or to stay present-focused. The past week frequency of the participants' safety behaviors will be assessed at the beginning of pre-treatment, post-treatment, and four week follow up assessments Participants will be asked to complete an additional online questionnaire for both a post-treatment and a 4-week post-treatment follow up assessment. We hypothesize that: 1) the safety behavior group will show a greater overall reduction in social anxiety symptoms, 2) that the safety behavior group will show a reduction in the frequency of safety behavior use, and 3) that the present-focused group will show an increase in mindfulness.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 97
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Florida
    • Tallahassee, Florida, United States, 32306
      • Florida State University, Department of Psychology

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Social Phobia Inventory score > 29

Exclusion Criteria:

• receiving therapy
• changes in the past 4 weeks with medication for emotional difficulties
• psychotic symptoms

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Safety Behavior Fading; Participants are asked to pick their three most common safety behaviors from a list and then receive texts every other day for a month reminding them to fade those behaviors.	Behavioral: Safety Behavior Fading; Participants are asked to fade their three most common safety behaviors associated with their social anxiety
Active Comparator: Present Centered; Participants receive texts every other day for a month asking them to try to focus on the present that day.	Behavioral: Present Centered; Participants are asked to try to increase their focus on the present.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN)	Self-report scale that measures Social anxiety symptoms. Scores range from 0 to 68 with higher scores indicating higher levels of social anxiety symptoms.	Change in social anxiety symptoms from baseline to post treatment (4 weeks) and one month follow up (8 weeks)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Subtle Avoidance Frequency Examination(SAFE)	Self report scale used to assess how often people use safety behaviors to cope with their anxiety. Scores range from 33 to 165. Higher total scores are associated with more frequent safety behavior use.	Change in safety behavior use from baseline to post treatment (4 weeks) and one month follow up (8 weeks)
Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised (CAMS-R)	Self-report used to measure mindfulness, including awareness of thoughts and feelings. Total scores range from 12 to 48 with higher scores indicating a greater ability to be mindful, present in the moment, and aware of thoughts and feelings.	Change in mindfulness from baseline to post treatment (4 weeks) and one month follow up (8 weeks)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Florida State University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Cougle JR, Mueller NE, McDermott KA, Wilver NL, Carlton CN, Okey SA. Text message safety behavior reduction for social anxiety: A randomized controlled trial. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2020 May;88(5):445-454. doi: 10.1037/ccp0000494. Epub 2020 Feb 27.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 27, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 27, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): March 27, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 5, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 18, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): June 19, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 29, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 26, 2021
• Last Verified: January 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Anxiety Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2017.22461

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No