Gamification in the Treatment of Spider Phobia

November 16, 2023 updated by: Anke Haberkamp

Testing a Gamified App to Reduce Avoidance and Fear of Spiders in Spider Phobia

Mobile applications are more and more considered when implementing programs for treating mental disorders. The study aims to reduce avoidance and fear of spiders in spider-fearful individuals by combining exposure principles with gamification elements (e.g. narrative background, level progression, points, feedback). We investigate the efficacy of the gamified app in a remote online-therapy context.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

90

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 Contact

Study Locations

  • Germany
      • Marburg, Germany
        • Recruiting
        • Philipps University Marburg
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Anke Haberkamp, PhD
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Filipp Schmidt, PhD
      • Marburg, Germany
        • Recruiting
        • Philipps-University Marburg Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy
        • Contact:

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

18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Participants must

  • be 18 years or older,
  • SPQ score ≥ 14
  • BDI-II score ≤ 18

Exclusion Criteria:

Participants will be deemed ineligible if they do not meet the above inclusion criteria or

  • are allergic to spiders or bee stings,
  • are currently undergoing psychotherapeutic and/or psychopharmacological treatments,
  • are experiencing current psychosis, mania, or substance abuse, or
  • successfully complete 8 or more of 12 possible BAT steps at baseline (to ensure that participants are indeed spider fearful)
  • are at higher risk from Covid-19 or
  • participated in a pilot study in 2019.

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Spider gamification app
Participants play the spider gamification app twice a day for 7 days
Behavioral: 7-day exposure therapy via self-developed app according to (Haberkamp et al., submitted)
Confrontation with spiders via gamified app
Other Names:
  • Spider Gamification App
Experimental: Online exposure + spider gamification app
Participants receive a therapist-guided one-session online exposure therapy and play the spider gamification app twice a day for 7 days
Behavioral: 7-day exposure therapy via self-developed app according to (Haberkamp et al., submitted)
Confrontation with spiders via gamified app
Other Names:
  • Spider Gamification App
Behavioral: Therapist-guided one-session online exposure therapy according to (Öst, 1989)
Massed exposure therapy over the course of one single session, applied in a remote-online context
Other Names:
  • Online exposure
Active Comparator: Online exposure + non-spider gamification app
Participants receive a therapist-guided one-session online exposure therapy and play a non-spider gamification app twice a day for 7 days
Behavioral: Therapist-guided one-session online exposure therapy according to (Öst, 1989)
Massed exposure therapy over the course of one single session, applied in a remote-online context
Other Names:
  • Online exposure

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in avoidance behavior (Behavioral Approach Task; BAT)
Time Frame: Baseline; (after one-session exposure if applied); Post-treatment (1-week after baseline); 3-week follow-up (4-weeks after baseline)
Scores range from 0 ("participant refuses to enter the room with spider") to 12 ("participant holds the spider at least for 20 sec").
Baseline; (after one-session exposure if applied); Post-treatment (1-week after baseline); 3-week follow-up (4-weeks after baseline)
Change in spider fear (Spider Phobia Questionnaire; SPQ)
Time Frame: Baseline; Post-treatment (1-week after baseline); 3-week follow-up (4-weeks after baseline)
The scale ranges from 0-31. High scores reflect high subjective levels and low scores low subjective levels of spider fear.
Baseline; Post-treatment (1-week after baseline); 3-week follow-up (4-weeks after baseline)
Change in spider fear: Spider-Anxiety Questionnaire (FAS)
Time Frame: Baseline; Post-treatment (1-week after baseline); 3-week follow-up (4-weeks after baseline)
The scale ranges from 0-108. High scores reflect high subjective levels and low scores low subjective levels of spider fear.
Baseline; Post-treatment (1-week after baseline); 3-week follow-up (4-weeks after baseline)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in disgust before and after playing the app
Time Frame: Before starting and immediately after completing the game
Seven-point rating scale scoring from 0 to 6: high scores reflect high levels and low scores low levels of experienced disgust; participants play twice a day (between 8 - 11 am and 4 - 7 pm); ratings are part of the app
Before starting and immediately after completing the game
Change in arousal before and after playing the app
Time Frame: Before starting and immediately after completing the game
Seven-point rating scale scoring from 0 to 6: high scores reflect high levels and low scores low levels of experienced arousal; participants play twice a day (between 8 - 11 am and 4 - 7 pm); ratings are part of the app
Before starting and immediately after completing the game
Change in anxiety before and after playing the app
Time Frame: Before starting and immediately after completing the game
Seven-point rating scale scoring from 0 to 6: high scores reflect high levels and low scores low levels of experienced anxiety; participants play twice a day (between 8 - 11 am and 4 - 7 pm); ratings are part of the app
Before starting and immediately after completing the game

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II)
Time Frame: Baseline, Post-treatment (1-week after baseline); 3-week follow-up (4-weeks after baseline)
Measures severity of depression; The scale ranges from 0-63: 0-13 minimal depressive symptoms; 14-19 mild symptoms; 20-28 moderate symptoms; 29-63 severe symptoms.
Baseline, Post-treatment (1-week after baseline); 3-week follow-up (4-weeks after baseline)
Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI)
Time Frame: Baseline, Post-treatment (1-week after baseline); 3-week follow-up (4-weeks after baseline)
Measures clinically relevant psychological symptoms.
Baseline, Post-treatment (1-week after baseline); 3-week follow-up (4-weeks after baseline)
German version of the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ-8)
Time Frame: (after one-session exposure if applied), Post-treatment (1-week after baseline); 3-week follow-up (4-weeks after baseline)
Standardised satisfaction measurement
(after one-session exposure if applied), Post-treatment (1-week after baseline); 3-week follow-up (4-weeks after baseline)
Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS)
Time Frame: Post-treatment (1-week after baseline)
Questionnaire assessing the quality of new user-oriented health applications
Post-treatment (1-week after baseline)

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Anke Haberkamp

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Anke Haberkamp, PhD, Philipps University Marburg Medical Center

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)

July 1, 2020

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2024

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 14, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 8, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

June 9, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

November 17, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 16, 2023

Last Verified

November 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • GaSpPh

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Share anonymized IPD via a general-purpose open-access repository

IPD Sharing Time Frame

end of the study; unlimited

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

open-access

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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