Overcoming Treatment Barriers (OBSTACLE-S)

Overcoming Treatment Barriers: The Role of Expectations in the Behavioral Intention of Treatment Seeking for Social Anxiety

This study aims to assess whether negative or rather the lack of positive treatment expectations could be positively influenced by online short interventions and increase intention so seek treatment and actual help-seeking behavior when compared to a no-treatment control group. Further, the study investigators like to explore if specifically focusing on intensifying positive treatment expectations vs. a reduction of expectations about negative treatment effects will influence the pattern of results differently.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Health Care Utilization; Health Care Seeking Behavior
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Video of a patients testimonial; Other: Writing Task

Detailed Description

The investigators expect that participants receiving an intervention e.g., amplifying positive (performance) expectancies vs. reducing negative (performance) expectancies of psychotherapeutic treatment, will show an increase in intentions to seek treatment and are more likely to report actual treatment-seeking behavior after the intervention when compared with participants who will describe their treatment expectations via a writing task.

Further, the investigators want to explore if the expectancy-modulating interventions will differently affect the intention to seek treatment within socially anxious individuals.

If participants agree, the investigators plan to assess changes in expectations, attitudes as well as actual treatment seeking behavior at a Follow-Up assessment one week later (data from Follow-Up will be analyzed exploratively and is not part of the main hypotheses).

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 171
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Germany
  • Marburg, Germany, 35032
    • Philipps-Universität Marburg

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• at least 18 years old
• fluent in German (C Level)
• access to a computer device with internet access

Exclusion Criteria:

• non correctable hearing or visual impairment
• current in psychotherapeutic treatment or on a waiting list
• no neurological impairment or psychotic disorders

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Reducing Negative Expectations; This group will watch a video of a patient-therapist interaction. The testimonial of the patient is framed to reduce negative expectations about therapeutic treatment.	Other: Video of a patients testimonial; The intervention is a prerecorded video of a re-enacted patient-therapist interaction whereby the patient gives a testimonial about the treatment process while either reducing negative expectations or maximizing positive expectations about therapy, respectively.; Other Names: Free-Writing Task
Experimental: Maximizing Positive Expectations; This group will watch a video of a patient-therapist interaction. The testimonial of the patient is framed to maximize positive expectations about therapeutic treatment.	Other: Video of a patients testimonial; The intervention is a prerecorded video of a re-enacted patient-therapist interaction whereby the patient gives a testimonial about the treatment process while either reducing negative expectations or maximizing positive expectations about therapy, respectively.; Other Names: Free-Writing Task
Other: Control Group; This group will explicate their current treatment expectations in a writing task.	Other: Writing Task; Participants write freely about their current treatment expectations / apprehensions to seek treatment

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Treatment Expectations (Treatment Expectation Questionnaire, "TEX-Q")	Explicit treatment expectations measured by 15 items on a 11point Likert-scale	At baseline (pre-measurement), immediately after intervention (post-measurement, approximately 20 minutes after beginning of study procedure) and at Follow-Up investigation (one week after post measurement)
Changes in intention to seek treatment	Estimated Probability to seek treatment on a self-generated rating scale from 0 (not likely at all) to 100 (very much likely)	At baseline (pre-measurement), immediately after intervention (post-measurement, approximately 20 minutes after beginning of study procedure) and at Follow-Up investigation (one week after post measurement)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Intention to seek treatment (Behavioral Outcome 1)	Participants respond with "yes" or "no" to indicate their interest to receive more concrete information about social anxiety and its treatment possibilities. If the answer was answered with "yes", participants are asked to give their e-mail address to receive information which is used to assess intention to seek treatment in form of a behavioral outcome.	After intervention (post measurement, approximately 30 minutes after beginning of study procedure)

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Treatment-seeking behavior (Behavioral Outcome 2)	If participants agree to participate at our Follow Up, a second behavioral outcome will be assessed. Participants will be asked if they meanwhile have researched more concrete information about social anxiety online, connected with internet platforms or self-support groups, applied for online therapy programs/sessions, contacted or sought professional help for outpatient or psychiatric clinics. All categories have to be answered by a dichotomous scale ("yes" or "no").	At Follow-Up investigation (one week after post measurement)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Philipps University Marburg

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 17, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): February 15, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): June 13, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 22, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 31, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): September 1, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 10, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 9, 2025
• Last Verified: July 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 2022-76k

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