Background: Treatment rates for social anxiety, a prevalent and potentially debilitating condition, remain among the lowest of all major mental disorders today. Although computer-delivered interventions are well poised to surmount key barriers to the treatment of social anxiety, most are only marginally effective when delivered as stand-alone treatments. A new, Web-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention called Overcome Social Anxiety was recently created to address the limitations of prior computer-delivered interventions. Users of Overcome Social Anxiety are self-directed through various CBT modules incorporating cognitive restructuring and behavioral experiments. The intervention is personalized to each user’s symptoms, and automatic email reminders and time limits are used to encourage adherence. Objective: The purpose of this study was to conduct a randomized controlled trial to investigate the effectiveness of Overcome Social Anxiety in reducing social anxiety symptoms in a nonclinical sample of university students. As a secondary aim, we also investigated whether Overcome Social Anxiety would increase life satisfaction in this sample. Methods: Following eligibility screening, participants were randomly assigned to a treatment condition or a wait-list control condition. Only those assigned to the treatment condition were given access to Overcome Social Anxiety; they were asked to complete the program within 4 months. The social interaction anxiety scale (SIAS), the fear of negative evaluation scale (FNE), and the quality of life enjoyment and satisfaction questionnaire—short form (Q-LES-Q-SF) were administered to participants from both conditions during baseline and 4-month follow-up lab visits. Results: Over the course of the study, participants assigned to the treatment condition experienced a significant reduction in social anxiety (SIAS: P<.001 cohen d="0.72;" fne: p whereas those assigned to the control condition did not additionally a direct comparison of average change in social anxiety conditions over course study showed that treatment experienced significantly more improvement than although participants slight increase life satisfaction as measured by q-les-q-sf scores and decrease these changes were statistically significant control: conclusions: our findings indicate overcome is an effective intervention for treating symptoms it may have further utility serving model development new interventions. provide evidence contemporary web-based interventions can be sophisticated enough benefit users even when delivered stand-alone treatments suggesting opportunities likely exist other mental health trial registration: clinicaltrials.gov nct02792127 https: webcite at http:>
This is the abstract only. Read the full article on the JMIR site. JMIR is the leading open access journal for eHealth and healthcare in the Internet age.