Multi-session, Personalized Cognitive Bias Modification for Thought-Action-Fusion

Han Joo Lee

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: OCD

Treatments: Behavioral: CBM-SMP; Behavioral: CBM-TAF

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06731426

UWM 24.060

Details and patient eligibility

About

Thought-Action-Fusion (TAF) is a cognitive bias that posits (1) having unwanted thoughts is morally equivalent to acting upon the thoughts (TAF-Moral; e.g., "Thinking about harming a child is as immoral as actually harming a child") and (2) having unwanted thoughts will increase the likelihood of the thoughts happening in real life (TAF-Likelihood; e.g., "My mother will get into a car accident, because I thought about it"). Given its central role in the development and maintenance of OCD, TAF has emerged as a potential treatment target for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Previous research has demonstrated that TAF is indeed a malleable construct. This study aims to examine the effects of a multi-session, personalized cognitive bias modification (CBM) for thought-action-fusion (TAF) on improving obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms in a college sample.

Full description

All participants will be randomized into three groups: 1) CBM-TAF, 2) CBM-SMP (stress management psychoeducation), and 3) WL (waitlist). Participants randomized into either of the training groups (CBM-TAF or CBM-SMP) will complete a total of 6 training sessions (2x/week for 3 weeks), which employ the ambiguous-sentence completion task. To strengthen the training effect, participants will watch brief animated videos about TAF (CBM-TAF) or stress management (CBM-SMP) at the beginning of each session. Participants randomized into the WL group will only complete weekly assessments without any training sessions. All participants will complete pre-, post-training and 1-month follow-up assessments. All training sessions and assessments will be housed on a mobile-based web platform.

Enrollment: 84 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• A score of 18 or higher on the Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DOCS)
• Aged 18 or higher
• Access to a mobile device (i.e., smartphone)

Exclusion criteria

• Self-reported visual impairment that cannot be adjusted and will prevent them from clearly recognizing words and pictures on mobile screen
• Self-reported history of a bipolar disorder or psychotic disorder on a Diagnostic History Scale (DHS)
• Inability to adequately understand the study procedure as determined by the responses to comprehension questions provided at the time of the consent

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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84 participants in 3 patient groups

Cognitive Bias Modification for Thought-Action-Fusion (CBM-TAF)

Experimental group

Description:

CBM-TAF will employ an ambiguous sentence-completion task, where participants have to fill in a missing letter in a fragmented word and resolve emotional ambiguity of a given scenario. At the beginning of each training session, participants will watch a brief animated video about TAF, OCD, and modifying TAF. Each training session will consist of 40 scenarios, which will take about 20 minutes to complete. There will be a total of 6 sessions (2x/week for 3 weeks).

Treatment:

Behavioral: CBM-TAF

Cognitive Bias Modification for Stress Management Psychoeducation (CBM-SMP)

Active Comparator group

Description:

Similar to CBM-TAF, CBM-SMP will employ an ambiguous sentence-completion task, where participants have to fill in a missing letter in a fragmented word. However, the content of scenarios in CBM-SMP will focus on general stress management techniques. At the beginning of each training session, participants will watch a brief animated video about OCD and stress management techniques. Each training session will consist of 40 scenarios, which will take about 20 minutes to complete. There will be a total of 6 sessions (2x/week for 3 weeks).

Treatment:

Behavioral: CBM-SMP

Waitlist (WL)

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants in WL group will only complete weekly assessment measures without engaging in any training sessions.