Attention, Teleconferencing and Social Anxiety

Investigating Attentional Processes: Teleconferencing and Social Anxiety

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

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Social Anxiety Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Experimental: Attention Guidance + Exposure; Behavioral: Active Comparator: Exposure Alone; Behavioral: Experimental: Attention Control + Exposure

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 53
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Austin, Texas, United States, 78712
      • Laboratory for the Study of Anxiety Disorders, University of Texas at Austin

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

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

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

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Attention Guidance + Exposure; Participants will complete teleconferencing-based exposure trials with an attention guidance component.	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 complete teleconferencing-based exposure trials.	Behavioral: 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 complete teleconferencing-based exposure trials with an attention control component.	Behavioral: 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.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
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
Personal Report of Communication Apprehension Questionnaire	Assessment of communication concerns, range of scores is 24-120; higher scores are worse	1-week follow-up
Personal Report of Communication Apprehension Questionnaire	Assessment of communication concerns, range of scores is 24-120; higher scores are worse	2-week follow-up
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
Leibowitz Social Anxiety Scale Questionnaire	Assessment of general social anxiety, range of scores is 0-144; higher scores are worse	1-week follow-up
Leibowitz Social Anxiety Scale Questionnaire	Assessment of general social anxiety, range of scores is 0-144; higher scores are worse	2-week follow-up

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Texas at Austin

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 18, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 30, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): June 30, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 7, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 25, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): January 29, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): January 8, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 5, 2024
• Last Verified: January 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Phobic Disorders; Anxiety Disorders; Phobia, Social
• Other Study ID Numbers: STUDY00000106

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Anonymized data and analysis syntax will be made available using an open data repository (e.g. osf.io)
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: SAP; ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

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