This study aims to assess whether negative or rather the lack of positive treatment expectations could be positively influenced by online short interventions and increase intention so seek treatment and actual help-seeking behavior when compared to a no-treatment control group. Further, the study investigators like to explore if specifically focusing on intensifying positive treatment expectations vs. a reduction of expectations about negative treatment effects will influence the pattern of results differently.
The investigators expect that participants receiving an intervention e.g., amplifying positive (performance) expectancies vs. reducing negative (performance) expectancies of psychotherapeutic treatment, will show an increase in intentions to seek treatment and are more likely to report actual treatment-seeking behavior after the intervention when compared with participants who will describe their treatment expectations via a writing task. Further, the investigators want to explore if the expectancy-modulating interventions will differently affect the intention to seek treatment within socially anxious individuals. If participants agree, the investigators plan to assess changes in expectations, attitudes as well as actual treatment seeking behavior at a Follow-Up assessment one week later (data from Follow-Up will be analyzed exploratively and is not part of the main hypotheses).
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
171
The intervention is a prerecorded video of a re-enacted patient-therapist interaction whereby the patient gives a testimonial about the treatment process while either reducing negative expectations or maximizing positive expectations about therapy, respectively.
Participants write freely about their current treatment expectations / apprehensions to seek treatment
Philipps-Universität Marburg
Marburg, Germany
Change in Treatment Expectations (Treatment Expectation Questionnaire, "TEX-Q")
Explicit treatment expectations measured by 15 items on a 11point Likert-scale
Time frame: At baseline (pre-measurement), immediately after intervention (post-measurement, approximately 20 minutes after beginning of study procedure) and at Follow-Up investigation (one week after post measurement)
Changes in intention to seek treatment
Estimated Probability to seek treatment on a self-generated rating scale from 0 (not likely at all) to 100 (very much likely)
Time frame: At baseline (pre-measurement), immediately after intervention (post-measurement, approximately 20 minutes after beginning of study procedure) and at Follow-Up investigation (one week after post measurement)
Intention to seek treatment (Behavioral Outcome 1)
Participants respond with "yes" or "no" to indicate their interest to receive more concrete information about social anxiety and its treatment possibilities. If the answer was answered with "yes", participants are asked to give their e-mail address to receive information which is used to assess intention to seek treatment in form of a behavioral outcome.
Time frame: After intervention (post measurement, approximately 30 minutes after beginning of study procedure)
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