Assessing the Efficacy of a Self-Administered Treatment for Social Anxiety in the Form of a Gamified Mobile Application:
- PDF / 1,595,250 Bytes
- 13 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 2 Downloads / 146 Views
Assessing the Efficacy of a Self-Administered Treatment for Social Anxiety in the Form of a Gamified Mobile Application: A Pilot Study Daniel George 1
&
J. P. Jameson 1 & Kurt Michael 1 & Jamie Yarbrough 1 & David George 2
Received: 5 December 2019 / Accepted: 10 August 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a highly prevalent and impairing mental disorder that often goes untreated. Because effective treatments exist but are not reaching many with SAD, it is important to investigate and design novel treatment delivery methods. To this end, our study set out to determine whether such a treatment could be effectively delivered through a new phone application featuring two novel mechanisms: (1) delivery of the treatment on a mobile smartphone and (2) the gamification of the treatment. Utilizing a single-subject multiple baseline across participants design, the efficacy of the treatment was evaluated on a sample of undergraduate students (N = 10) who endorsed significant levels of social anxiety on a self-report measure. Participants completed assessments every 4 days during a 12-, 16-, or 20-day baseline phase and a 44-, 40-, or 36-day treatment phase. At the study’s conclusion, participants showed a statistically significant mean decrease in scores on both the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale. In addition, the results evidenced high rates of completion, lending support for the acceptability of the treatment modality. Future research comparing purely self-guided interventions with minimal therapist contact interventions and traditional face-to-face treatment are needed, with further investigations into gamification as a potential mechanism for increasing adherence and motivation. Keywords Social anxiety . Mental health . mHealth . Mobile technology . Gamification
Objective Despite high prevalence rates, significant associated impairments, and increased recognition of the disorder’s individual and societal costs, social anxiety disorder (SAD) remains an undertreated psychiatric disorder, with only 40% of those diagnosed receiving any treatment at all (Stein and Stein 2008; Wang et al. 2005). Among those who do receive treatment, dropout rates are high, with research suggesting that up to 85% of those with the disorder do not attend follow-up sessions after an initial interview (Santana and Fontenelle 2011). In addition, SAD is associated with substantial increases in risk for depression and suicidal thoughts and behaviors (Beesdo et al. 2007; Cox et al. 1994).
* Daniel George [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, USA
2
Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Despite the potential severity of SAD, there are a number of effective treatments including exposure therapy and cognitive restructuring (Heimberg 2002; Rodebaugh et al. 2004), social skills training (Bögels and Voncken 2008), and applied relaxation (Rodebaugh et al. 2004). A review of five meta-analyses by Rodebaugh et al. (20
Data Loading...
