Internet Treatment for Social Phobia in Romania (iSOFIE-Ro)

Babes-Bolyai University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Phobia, Social

Treatments: Other: iSOFIE

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01557894

TTudor

Details and patient eligibility

About

The main aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of an Internet-delivered intervention for social phobia by comparing it to a waitlist control group. The second aim of the study is to track the potential changes in participants' thinking patterns. Because this is among the first guided Internet-delivered interventions conducted in Romania, the treatment credibility will also be investigated. Finally, the predictive power of anxiety sensitivity for both SAD symptoms and the treatment effectiveness will be investigated.

Full description

The primary aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of an internet intervention for social phobia (i.e., the iSOFIE) by comparing it to a waitlist control group. iSOFIE was derived from a previously tested program (Furmark, Holmström, Sparthan, Carlbring, & Andersson, 2006) and has been significantly shortened while retaining the most important elements. The second aim of the study is to track the potential changes in participants' thinking patterns. While this intervention is primarily based on the cognitive-behavioral model of SAD (Clark and Wells, 1995), and no specific Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT, Ellis & Dryden, 1997) will be implemented, it is hypothesized that the cognitive restructuring and exposure exercises will make participants less prone to irrational thinking (as measured by the Attitude and Belief Scale-II (ABS-II, DiGiuseppe, Leaf, Exner, & Robin, 1988). To our knowledge, no study has investigated whether an iCBT program for SAD has the potential to alter participants' irrational thinking patterns. Moreover, because this is among the first guided Internet-delivered interventions conducted in Romania, the treatment credibility of the program will be investigated. Finally, the predictive power of anxiety sensitivity for both SAD symptoms and the treatment effectiveness will be investigated.

Enrollment: 76 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• over 18 years
• social anxiety disorder is the primary diagnostic (according to the DSM-IV)
• access to an Internet connected computer
• be fluent in Romanian language

Exclusion criteria

• suicidal ideation
• ongoing psychological treatment for social anxiety disorder
• recent change in psychiatric medication (i.e., during the last 6 weeks)
• psychoses or borderline personality disorder

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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76 participants in 2 patient groups

iSOFIE

Experimental group

Description:

Cognitive - Behavioral: Internet-administrated CBT for Social Phobia that contains 9 self-help text modules and exercises (i.e., behavioral experiments)

Treatment:

Other: iSOFIE

Waitlist control group

No Intervention group

Description:

Waitlist control group