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

NCT03012035 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: SPFE 2017
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 70
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

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.

Conditions

Phobic Disorders

Keywords

psychotherapy; exposition; spider fear; expectation

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in subjective anxiety assessed by questionnaire

  assessment of change in subjective anxiety by questionnaire at selcted time points

  Baseline, Pre exposition, Post exposition, Recovery; time between baseline and recovery approximately lasts 21 days

Study Arms (2)

experimental group

EXPERIMENTAL

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).

Other: positive treatment expectations

comparator group

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).

Other: neutral treatment expectations

Interventions

positive treatment expectations 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).

experimental group

neutral treatment expectations 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).

comparator group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• 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

You may not qualify if:

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

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland: lead

Study Sites (1)

Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy University of Basel

Basel, 4055, Switzerland

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Phobic Disorders; Arachnophobia

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Anxiety Disorders; Mental Disorders

Study Officials

• Jens Gaab, Prof. Dr.

  Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy University of Basel

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 21, 2016
• First Posted: January 6, 2017
• Study Start: May 18, 2017
• Primary Completion: March 12, 2018
• Study Completion: March 12, 2018
• Last Updated: March 21, 2018

Record last verified: 2018-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CH (1)