Efficacy of an unguided internet‐based self‐help intervention for social anxiety disorder in university students: A randomized controlled trial

• Published in: International journal of methods in psychiatric research 2019-06, Vol.28 (2), p.e1766-n/a
• Main Authors: Kählke, Fanny, Berger, Thomas, Schulz, Ava, Baumeister, Harald, Berking, Matthias, Auerbach, Randy P., Bruffaerts, Ronny, Cuijpers, Pim, Kessler, Ronald C., Ebert, David Daniel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Anxiety disorders; Clinical trials; Fear & phobias; Female; Humans; internet‐based treatment; Male; Mental disorders; Phobia, Social - therapy; Psychopathology; Quality of life; Self Care; Self help; Shyness; Social anxiety; social anxiety disorder; Special Issue; Special Issues; Students - psychology; Therapy, Computer-Assisted - methods; Treatment Outcome; unguided self‐help; University students
• ISSN: 1049-8931; 1557-0657; 1557-0657
• DOI: 10.1002/mpr.1766

Objectives Internet‐ and mobile‐based interventions (IMIs) offer the opportunity to deliver mental health treatments on a large scale. This randomized controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of an unguided IMI (StudiCare SAD) for university students with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Methods University students (N = 200) diagnosed with SAD were randomly assigned to an IMI or a waitlist control group (WLC) with full access to treatment as usual. StudiCare SAD consists of nine sessions. The primary outcome was SAD symptoms at posttreatment (10 weeks), assessed via the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS). Secondary outcomes included depression, quality of life, fear of positive evaluation, general psychopathology, and interpersonal problems. Results Results indicated moderate to large effect sizes in favor of StudiCare SAD compared with WLC for SAD at posttest for the primary outcomes (SPS: d = 0.76; SIAS: d = 0.55, p