Journal Article

Guided and unguided CBT for social anxiety disorder and/or panic disorder via the Internet and a smartphone application: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Lindner, Philip, Carlbring, Per, Ly, Kien Hoa, Ivanova, Ekaterina, Andersson, Gerhard

2013

Overview

Background Smartphone technology presents a novel and promising opportunity to extend the reach of psychotherapeutic interventions by moving selected parts of the therapy into the real-life situations causing distress. This randomised controlled trial will investigate the effects of a transdiagnostic, Internet-administered cognitive behavioural (iCBT) self-help program for anxiety, supplemented with a smartphone application. The effect of added therapist support will also be studied. Methods/Design One hundred and fifty participants meeting diagnostic criteria for social anxiety disorder and/or panic disorder will be evenly randomised to either one of three study groups: 1, smartphone-supplemented iCBT with therapist support; 2, smartphone-supplemented iCBT without therapist support; or 3, an active waiting list control group with delayed treatment. Primary outcome measure will be the Generalised Anxiety Disorder 7-item self-rating scale. Secondary measures include other anxiety, depression and quality of life measures. In addition to pre- and post-treatment measurements, the study includes two mid-treatment (days 24 and 48) and two follow-up assessments (12 and 36 months) to assess rapid and long-term effects. Discussion To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the effectiveness of smartphone-supplemented iCBT for anxiety disorders. Hence, the findings from this trial will constitute great advancements in the burgeoning and promising field of smartphone-administered psychological interventions. Limitations are discussed. Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT01963806

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd
• Subject: anxiety / Anxiety Disorders - diagnosis / Anxiety Disorders - psychology / Anxiety Disorders - therapy / app / application / Biomedicine / Care and treatment / Cell Phone / Clinical Protocols / cognitive behavioural / Cognitive therapy / Cognitive Therapy - instrumentation / Cognitive Therapy - methods / Health Sciences / Humans / Internet / internet-administered / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Methods / Mobile Applications / Panic attacks / Panic Disorder - diagnosis / Panic Disorder - psychology / Panic Disorder - therapy / Panic disorders / Patient compliance / Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Psychology / psykologi / randomised controlled trial / Research Design / SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP / Smart phones / smartphone / Social Behavior Disorders - diagnosis / Social Behavior Disorders - psychology / Social Behavior Disorders - therapy / Social phobia / SOCIAL SCIENCES / Statistics for Life Sciences / Study Protocol / Surveys and Questionnaires / Sweden / Technology application / Therapy, Computer-Assisted - instrumentation / Therapy, Computer-Assisted - methods / Time Factors / Treatment Outcome