ACT and Virtual Reality for Public Speaking Fear

NCT05573620 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: CIPI/19/052
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 37
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Investigation of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for the psychological treatment of public speaking fear. Two ACT-based treatment delivery modalities (in vivo exposure vs. virtual reality) were compared.

Conditions

Public Speaking Fear

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in Public Speaking Self-confidence questionnaire PRCS (Paul, 1966)

  'Public Speaking Self-confidence questionnaire' assesses public speaking fear. It is a 12-item, five-point Likert-type scale. Scores range between 12 and 60. Higher the score in the questionnaire, indicate higher levels of public speaking fear and worse outcome.

  Change from Baseline psychological inflexibilty at 4 months

Secondary Outcomes (9)

• Change in Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II)

  Change from Baseline psychological inflexibilty at 4 months

• Change in Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (CFQ)

  Change from Baseline psychological inflexibilty at 4 months

• Change in Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale LSAS

  Change from Baseline psychological inflexibilty at 4 months

• Change in Self-Statements during Public Speaking SSPS

  Change from Baseline psychological inflexibilty at 4 months

• Change in Public Speaking Self-efficacy and Fear Questionnaire CAHP

  Change from Baseline psychological inflexibilty at 4 months

Study Arms (3)

ACT+In vivo exposure

EXPERIMENTAL

5 individual weekly sessions which included ACT methods + in vivo exposure

Behavioral: ACT; Behavioral: In vivo exposure:

ACT+Virtual reality

EXPERIMENTAL

5 individual weekly sessions which included ACT methods + virtual reality

Behavioral: ACT; Behavioral: Virtual Reality

Waiting list

NO INTERVENTION

Participants assigned to Waiting List arm waited for 5 weeks before receiving treatment (i.e., after completing the measures they continued in the study and then were randomly assigned to ACT+in vivo exposure or ACT+virtual reality arms).

Interventions

ACT BEHAVIORAL

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy methods were focused on promoting Values clarification, Acceptance, Cognitive defusion, Committed action and Flexible attention to the present moment, and included 'The dreamed professional exercise' -variation on '"imagine your funeral" exercise'-, Ship's captain metaphor, Imaginal exposure, Physicalizing exercise, and Watching thoughts as graffiti.

ACT+In vivo exposure; ACT+Virtual reality

In vivo exposure: BEHAVIORAL

The audience was made up of university students. Every session included a 12 minute oral presentation. Participants were asked to improvise a talk about a new topic (e.g. violence against women, education system in Spain…). Participants had 3 minutes to prepare their speech. Difficulty increased based on each participant's pre assessment (topics and distractors as ringtones, audience whispering...)

ACT+In vivo exposure

Virtual Reality BEHAVIORAL

Virtual reality was delivered through Psious platform distributed in Spain by TEA and through a Virtual Reality equipment that included a Samsung S7 mobile and Samsung Gear VR glasses. Every session included a 12 minute oral presentation. Participants were asked to improvise a talk about a new topic (e.g. violence against women, education system in Spain…). Participants had 3 minutes to prepare their speech. Difficulty increased based on each participant's pre assessment (topics and distractors as ringtones, audience whispering...)

ACT+Virtual reality

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Student at European University of Madrid, Spain
• Significant social anxiety (LSAS Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale)
• Subjective fear intensity and interference \> 5/10

You may not qualify if:

• Alcohol or drugs abuse
• Psychotropic drug consume
• Following psychological/psychiatric treatment
• Serious mental disorder

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universidad Europea de Madrid: lead

Study Sites (1)

Universidad Europea de Madrid

Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid, 28670, Spain

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Glossophobia

Study Officials

• Francisco Montesinos, Ph.D.

  Universidad Europea de Madrid

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Masking Details: Participants did not know that two different treatments were delivered.
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Randomization assigned participants to 3 arms: * in vivo exposure * virtual reality * waiting list

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 13, 2022
• First Posted: October 10, 2022
• Study Start: March 14, 2019
• Primary Completion: December 31, 2021
• Study Completion: December 31, 2022
• Last Updated: May 11, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-05

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

ES (1)