Mindfulness and Acceptance-Based Treatments for Social Anxiety: Defusion App

NCT ID: NCT02265211

Last Updated: 2015-06-16

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 15 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2014-10-31
• Study Completion Date: 2015-06-30

Brief Summary

This study evaluates a self-help app in the treatment of shyness and social anxiety in adults. All participants will be assigned to the treatment group. It is expected that using this app will result in a reduction in social anxiety.

Detailed Description

Over 2 million Canadians have suffered from social anxiety disorder (SAD) at some point in their lives. This disorder is characterized by a strong fear of negative evaluation in social situations and is associated with significant impairment in social interactions, educational/occupational achievement, and life satisfaction. Despite the fact that efficacious treatments have been developed and evaluated, both treatment effectiveness and treatment seeking behaviour remain below optimal levels. Combined with the many barriers to treatment (i.e., cost, stigma, access), researchers are investigating self-help modalities as an alternative to conventional psychotherapy.

The Defusion App is based on content from Fleming & Kocovski's (2013) self-help book "The Mindfulness & Acceptance Workbook for Social Anxiety & Shyness." Specifically, the app teaches users about the tendency of socially anxious individuals to fuse with their anxious thoughts (i.e., cognitive fusion), and strategies to reduce it.

In this experimental research study, a smartphone app designed to help with social anxiety and shyness will be evaluated for both effectiveness and frequency of use. The objectives will be to determine whether participants use the app, and whether use of the app is associated with a reduction in social anxiety.

Preliminary evidence has indicated that smartphone apps for mental health are associated with promising results. It is expected that the use of the app in the present research will be associated with reductions in social anxiety symptom severity and a greater use of cognitive defusion strategies.

The participants will be a community sample of individuals interested in seeking help with social anxiety and shyness as recruited by the use of posters around the Wilfrid Laurier University campus and in the community, as well as online.

Conditions

Anxiety; Shyness

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Self-Help App

Smartphone app designed to teach cognitive defusion.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Self-Help App

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Interventions

Self-Help App

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• must be seeking help for shyness/social anxiety
• must own a smartphone

Exclusion Criteria

• none

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Wilfrid Laurier University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Meagan MacKenzie

Postdoctoral Fellow

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Meagan B MacKenzie, Ph.D.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Wilfrid Laurier University

Locations

Wilfrid Laurier University

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Countries

Canada

Other Identifiers

4207

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id