- ICH GCP
- US Clinical Trials Registry
- Clinical Trial NCT04850989
Efficacy of Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy Scripts for Social Phobia
April 18, 2022 updated by: Michelle G. Newman, Penn State University
Efficacy of Using Real-Life Footage in Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder
The purpose of this study is to test the efficacy virtual reality videos to facilitate exposure therapy in social anxiety disorder (SAD).
The exposure therapy videos are the focus of this experiment.
Essentially, we are testing the efficacy of the Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) scripts (i.e., virtual scenarios, people, and interactions that we expose socially anxious people to).
To this end, the goal of the current study is to help people with social anxiety overcome their phobias.
Individuals who experience a difficult time building social relationships, accomplishing everyday tasks, or pursuing job interviews can practice those same behaviors in a controlled environment.
Specifically, we aim to test the following hypotheses: (1) Virtual reality exposure therapy intervention (vs.
waitlist control condition) is effective for treating SAD symptoms.
(2) Participants who received the VRET will experience maintenance of treatment gains following 3-month and 6-month post-termination of treatment.
(3) Users of the virtual reality exposure therapy will demonstrate high amounts of acceptability of the treatment.
Study Overview
Status
Recruiting
Conditions
Intervention / Treatment
Study Type
Interventional
Enrollment (Anticipated)
44
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
- Name: Nur Hani Zainal, M.S.
- Phone Number: 917-767-7088
- Email: nvz5057@psu.edu
Study Contact Backup
- Name: Michelle G. Newman, Ph.D.
- Phone Number: 814-883-4572
- Email: mgn1@psu.edu
Study Locations
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Pennsylvania
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University Park, Pennsylvania, United States, 16802
- Recruiting
- The Pennsylvania State University
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Contact:
- Michelle G. Newman, Ph.D.
- Phone Number: 814-883-4572
- Email: mgn1@psu.edu
-
Principal Investigator:
- Michelle G. Newman, Ph.D.
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-
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
16 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No
Genders Eligible for Study
All
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- Presence of Social Anxiety Disorder based on the Social Phobia Diagnostic Questionnaire self-report or Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview
- Current student at the Pennsylvania State University or a community-dwelling adult who expressed interest to participate through the PSU StudyFinder portal
- Expressed interest to seek treatment
- Currently not receiving treatment from a mental health professional
- Able to provide consent
- Proficient in English
Exclusion Criteria:
- Below age 18
- Failure to meet any of above inclusion criteria
- Presence of suicidality, mania, psychosis, or substance use disorders
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: None (Open Label)
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
---|---|
Experimental: Virtual reality exposure therapy
Participants were allowed to choose one of two themes.
For both themes, each scene was developed to be more anxiety-provoking as the VRE progressed.
Greater anxiety-inducing scenes had interviewers and other actors who displayed less compassionate, friendly, humorous, and pleasant verbal and non-verbal behaviors and demeanors to elicit elevated anxiety (Carless & Imber, 2007).
Also, a virtual therapist was embedded within the VRE.
It functioned to coach the participant through each distinct scene by orienting and prompting them to the exposure therapy task(s), continually conveying core principles of exposure therapy, and repeating the instructions if the participant was not responsive within five seconds.
Each scene started with a paused video, during which participants were oriented by the virtual therapist to the context.
|
We worked with Limbix to tailor content on a Pico Goblin VR headset by creating two exposure therapy themes (general social skills training/dinner party or job interview) based on CBT principles and literature.
The Pico Goblin VR headset projected a 5.5-inch diagonal screen size (depth: 139.7 mm; height: 122mm; width: 68mm) with 2560 x 1440-pixel resolution, 3 degrees of freedom, 92° field of view, a refresh rate of 70Hz, and 54-71mm interpupillary distance (Kyoto, 2017).
It was chosen because displays of the pre-recorded VRE videos could be smoothly operated wirelessly with a tablet that showed the selected scenes in real-time.
Further, the headset could be conveniently switched on and off, and dovetailed the participant's head motion.
These scenes were filmed with a 360° stereoscopic camera, each lasting between 1.5 to 10 min.
|
No Intervention: Waiting list
Participants started treatment 2-4 weeks post-randomization.
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What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
---|---|---|
Change from Baseline Social Anxiety Disorder at 2-8-week-post-randomization
Time Frame: Baseline, 2-8-week-post-randomization
|
Social Phobia Diagnostic Questionnaire-IV (SPDQ; Newman, Kachin, Zuellig, Constantino, & Cashman-McGrath, 2003) (21 of 21 items; self-report; possible range = 0-35).
Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS; Mattick & Clarke, 1998) (20 of 20 items; self-report; possible range = 0-80).
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Baseline, 2-8-week-post-randomization
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Change from Baseline Social Anxiety Disorder at 3-month post-randomization
Time Frame: Baseline, 3-month-post-randomization
|
Social Phobia Diagnostic Questionnaire-IV (SPDQ; Newman, Kachin, Zuellig, Constantino, & Cashman-McGrath, 2003) (21 of 21 items; self-report; possible range = 0-35).
Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS; Mattick & Clarke, 1998) (20 of 20 items; self-report; possible range = 0-80).
|
Baseline, 3-month-post-randomization
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Change from Baseline Social Anxiety Disorder at 6-month post-randomization
Time Frame: Baseline, 6-month-post-randomization
|
Social Phobia Diagnostic Questionnaire-IV (SPDQ; Newman, Kachin, Zuellig, Constantino, & Cashman-McGrath, 2003) (21 of 21 items; self-report; possible range = 0-35).
Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS; Mattick & Clarke, 1998) (20 of 20 items; self-report; possible range = 0-80).
|
Baseline, 6-month-post-randomization
|
Change from Baseline Job Interview Anxiety at 2-8-week-post-randomization
Time Frame: Baseline, 2-8-week-post-randomization
|
Measure of Anxiety in Selection Interviews (MASI; McCarthy & Goffin, 2004) (30 of 30 items; self-report; possible range = 30-150)
|
Baseline, 2-8-week-post-randomization
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Change from Baseline Job Interview Anxiety at 3-month post-randomization
Time Frame: Baseline, 3-month post-randomization
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Measure of Anxiety in Selection Interviews (MASI; McCarthy & Goffin, 2004) (30 of 30 items; self-report; possible range = 30-150)
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Baseline, 3-month post-randomization
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Change from Baseline Job Interview Anxiety at 6-month post-randomization
Time Frame: Baseline, 6-month post-randomization
|
Measure of Anxiety in Selection Interviews (MASI; McCarthy & Goffin, 2004) (30 of 30 items; self-report; possible range = 30-150)
|
Baseline, 6-month post-randomization
|
Secondary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
---|---|---|
Change from Baseline Trait Worry Symptom Severity at 2-8-week-post-randomization
Time Frame: Baseline, 2-8-week-post-randomization
|
Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ; Meyer, Miller, Metzger, & Borkovec, 1990) (16 of 16 items; self-report; possible range = 16-80)
|
Baseline, 2-8-week-post-randomization
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Change from Baseline Trait Worry Symptom Severity at 3-month-post-randomization
Time Frame: Baseline, 3-month-post-randomization
|
Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ; Meyer, Miller, Metzger, & Borkovec, 1990) (16 of 16 items; self-report; possible range = 16-80)
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Baseline, 3-month-post-randomization
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Change from Baseline Trait Worry Symptom Severity at 6-month-post-randomization
Time Frame: Baseline, 6-month-post-randomization
|
Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ; Meyer, Miller, Metzger, & Borkovec, 1990) (16 of 16 items; self-report; possible range = 16-80)
|
Baseline, 6-month-post-randomization
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Change from Baseline Depression Symptom Severity at 2-8-week-post-randomization
Time Frame: Baseline, 2-8-week-post-randomization
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Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9; Kroenke, Spitzer, & Williams, 2001) (9 of 9 items; self-report; possible range = 0-27)
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Baseline, 2-8-week-post-randomization
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Change from Baseline Depression Symptom Severity at 3-month-post-randomization
Time Frame: Baseline, 3-month-post-randomization
|
Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9; Kroenke, Spitzer, & Williams, 2001) (9 of 9 items; self-report; possible range = 0-27)
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Baseline, 3-month-post-randomization
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Change from Baseline Depression Symptom Severity at 6-month-post-randomization
Time Frame: Baseline, 6-month-post-randomization
|
Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9; Kroenke, Spitzer, & Williams, 2001) (9 of 9 items; self-report; possible range = 0-27)
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Baseline, 6-month-post-randomization
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Other Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
---|---|---|
Mental health disorder screening measures
Time Frame: Baseline
|
Social anxiety disorder assessed using the Social Phobia Diagnostic Questionnaire (SPDQ; Newman, Kachin, Zuellig, Constantino, & Cashman-McGrath, 2003).
Mental health disorders (generalized anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, manic and hypomanic episodes, agoraphobia, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol use disorder, substance use disorder, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder), as well as rule out organic, drug, or medical causes of mental health problems were determined with the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) (Sheehan et al., 1997) Version 7.0.0.
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Baseline
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Process measures
Time Frame: Baseline, 2-8-week-post-randomization
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Acceptability was measured by asking participants if they would be willing to recommend the program to others who might have problems similar to theirs and for their feedback.
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Baseline, 2-8-week-post-randomization
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Treatment acceptability
Time Frame: 2-8-week-post-randomization
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Acceptability was measured by asking participants if they would be willing to recommend the program to others who might have problems similar to theirs and for their feedback.
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2-8-week-post-randomization
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Collaborators and Investigators
This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.
Sponsor
Collaborators
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Michelle G. Newman, Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University
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)
December 18, 2018
Primary Completion (Anticipated)
December 31, 2025
Study Completion (Anticipated)
December 31, 2027
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
April 9, 2021
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
April 14, 2021
First Posted (Actual)
April 20, 2021
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Actual)
April 25, 2022
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
April 18, 2022
Last Verified
April 1, 2022
More Information
Terms related to this study
Keywords
Additional Relevant MeSH Terms
Other Study ID Numbers
- STUDY00010344
Drug and device information, study documents
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product
No
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product
Yes
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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