The Role of Treatment Expectation in Exposure Training With Spider Fearful Participants

NCT ID: NCT03012035

Last Updated: 2018-03-21

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 70 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2017-05-18
• Study Completion Date: 2018-03-12

Brief Summary

This study evaluates the role of treatment success expectation in spider fearful individuals on the actual treatment success. Half of participants will have positive treatment success expectations, while the other half will have neutral treatment outcome expectations.

Detailed Description

The investigator plan to conduct a randomized, single blind study with two parallel groups. Both groups undergo the same standardized psychotherapeutic intervention, i.e. exposure training. All participants will receive the same exposure training in groups of maximum three participants of the same study group. The two study groups only differ regarding the induced treatment expectations towards the effects of the exposure training. While the experimental group will get an open administration of treatment and be informed in order to have a positive treatment expectation, the comparator group will receive a hidden administration of treatment and get neutral information, thus treatment expectations will be neutral. Study members conducting the exposure training with the participants will not be aware of the allocation of the study participants. Study participants will be informed about the aim of the allocated condition, but they will be blind to the aim of the study in order to induce the specific expectation. Differences in treatment outcomes are compared between both groups to investigate the association with treatment expectation.

Conditions

Phobic Disorders

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: OTHER
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

experimental group

Before participants undergo the exposure training their expectation of treatment efficacy is manipulated with different information regarding the following treatment. The experimental group will get positive treatment expectations induced with the accurate information, that exposure training refers to the gold standard in psychotherapy to reduce spider fear (= open administration of treatment).

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

positive treatment expectations

Intervention Type: OTHER

Before participants undergo the exposure training their expectation of treatment efficacy is manipulated with different information regarding the following treatment. The experimental group will get positive treatment expectations induced with the accurate information, that exposure training refers to the gold standard in psychotherapy to reduce spider fear (= open administration of treatment).

comparator group

The comparator group will get neutral expectations regarding treatment outcome. To induce neutral treatment expectations about the following exposure training, it is necessary to tell them they are in the comparator group and that they will receive a comparator condition exposure training for diagnostic purposes only (= hidden administration of treatment).

Group Type: OTHER

neutral treatment expectations

Intervention Type: OTHER

The comparator group will get neutral expectations regarding treatment outcome. To induce neutral treatment expectations about the following exposure training, it is necessary to tell them they are in the comparator group and that they will receive a comparator condition exposure training for diagnostic purposes only (= hidden administration of treatment).

Interventions

positive treatment expectations

Before participants undergo the exposure training their expectation of treatment efficacy is manipulated with different information regarding the following treatment. The experimental group will get positive treatment expectations induced with the accurate information, that exposure training refers to the gold standard in psychotherapy to reduce spider fear (= open administration of treatment).

Intervention Type: OTHER

neutral treatment expectations

The comparator group will get neutral expectations regarding treatment outcome. To induce neutral treatment expectations about the following exposure training, it is necessary to tell them they are in the comparator group and that they will receive a comparator condition exposure training for diagnostic purposes only (= hidden administration of treatment).

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• good knowledge of German language

• marked fear or anxiety about spiders
• spiders almost always provoke immediate fear or anxiety
• spiders are actively avoided or endured with intense fear or anxiety
• the fear or anxiety is out of proportion to the actual danger posed by spiders
• the fear, anxiety, or avoidance is persistent, typically lasting for 6 months or more
• the disturbance is not better explained by the symptoms of mental disorders as agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, separation anxiety or social anxiety disorder

Exclusion Criteria

• acute or chronic psychiatric disorder
• currently in psychological or psychiatric treatment
• knowledge of exposure training

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

Sponsors

University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Jens Gaab, Prof. Dr.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy University of Basel

Locations

Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy University of Basel

Basel, , Switzerland

Countries

Switzerland

Other Identifiers

SPFE 2017

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id