The Effects of an Expectation-focused Nonguided Therapy Preparation

NCT ID: NCT05519722

Last Updated: 2024-08-07

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 81 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2022-09-15
• Study Completion Date: 2024-03-31

Brief Summary

Various studies have shown that a more positive outcome expectation can have an influence on the actual treatment outcome of outpatient psychotherapeutic treatments. Therefore, the aim of this online study is to investigate whether [1] the patients' outcome expectation of outpatient psychotherapy can be optimized by a brief nonguided online intervention and whether [2] this intervention can influence important factors of psychotherapy, such as active cooperation, the therapeutic relationship, motivation, and regular attendance to therapy.

To examine these questions, patients who are waiting for outpatient therapy will be randomized into two groups (control vs. intervention group) after baseline assessment. The intervention group will participate in a brief therapy preparation (30 minutes) that focuses on optimizing outcome expectations. Both groups will fill out questionnaires again on the following day, during the diagnostic phase at the beginning of therapy and six months later (or at the end of therapy in case therapy ends before the 6-month-follow-up). Furthermore, therapists will also fill out questionnaires during the diagnostic phase at the beginning of therapy and six months later (or at the end of therapy in case therapy ends before the 6-month-follow-up).

Conditions

Expectations

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Intervention group

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Expectation-focused online intervention

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Patients receive an expectation-focused online intervention (around 30 minutes) consisting of a video with general information about psychotherapy, a video with reports of patients' therapy experiences, questions on the content of the videos as well as open questions on personal strengths, fears and expectations in the context of therapy. This intervention aims to optimize patients' expectations by focusing on positive and realistic expectations regarding the psychotherapeutic process.

Control group

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Expectation-focused online intervention

Patients receive an expectation-focused online intervention (around 30 minutes) consisting of a video with general information about psychotherapy, a video with reports of patients' therapy experiences, questions on the content of the videos as well as open questions on personal strengths, fears and expectations in the context of therapy. This intervention aims to optimize patients' expectations by focusing on positive and realistic expectations regarding the psychotherapeutic process.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• patients who are waiting for therapy at the ambulance for psychotherapy Marburg ("Psychotherapie-Ambulanz Marburg")
• Age 18 or above
• Fluency in German
• Informed consent

Exclusion Criteria

• visual or hearing impairment that interferes with viewing or listening to video recordings

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Philipps University Marburg

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Winfried Rief, Prof. Dr.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Dept. of Psychology, Philipps-University Marburg

Locations

Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University Marburg

Marburg, , Germany

Countries

Germany

Other Identifiers

ENThER

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id