Social (public speaking) anxiety disorder is the most prevalent of all anxiety
disorders, and it often impairs social and occupational functioning. Intervention studies
indicate that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an efficacious treatment for social
anxiety. However, access to therapists skilled in CBT for social anxiety is often difficult.
In order to respond to the problem of access, the use of videoconferencing for mental
health care has developed. No published study has investigated the efficacy of CBT for
social anxiety when provided via videoconferencing.
The purpose of this study, therefore, was to determine the efficacy of CBT for
social anxiety when provided via videoconferencing. A single-case replication design
was employed that included a baseline period of 3 weeks, followed by 12 weeks of .
treatment, 1-week post-intervention period, and 3-month follow-up. Five participants
completed treatment. It was hypothesized that participants would reduce their social
anxiety symptoms (i.e., decrease anxiety during speech task, increase duration of speech
task, and decrease public speaking anxiety) assessed on standardized measures of social
anxiety. Exploratory analyses of changes in self-monitored social anxiety, negative
cognitions (public self-consciousness, fear of negative evaluation, internal attributions),
working alliance, client satisfaction with treatment, and client comfort with
videoconferencing were also performed. Analyses included visual and statistical
significance, as well as clinical significance (i.e., endstate functioning, social phobia
diagnostic status).
The results indicated that two of three hypotheses were supported (i.e., anxiety
during speech task reduced and duration of speech task increased over time). At 3-month
follow-up, treatment gains were maintained or improved further; 3 participants no longer
met the DSM-IV-TR criteria for social anxiety disorder, and 4 participants met criteria
for moderate or high level of endstate functioning (i.e., clinical significance). Exploratory
analyses revealed that self-monitored social anxiety decreased for 3 of 5 participants, and
that a decrease in negative cognitions was associated with a decrease in social anxiety.
Working alliance ratings remained high throughout treatment. Satisfaction with
videoconferencing decreased over treatment for the participant who did not improve.
Generally, comfort with videoconferencing increased over time. The results offer
preliminary support for further research about the efficacy of the intervention.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/13503 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Pelletier, Marie-Helene |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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