NCT05573620

ACT and Virtual Reality for Public Speaking Fear

Training University Students Through Acceptance and Virtual Reality for Coping Public Speaking Fear: a Clinical Trial

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 37 (actual)
• Sponsor: Universidad Europea de Madrid · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

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.

Detailed description

After being informed about the study, all patients giving written informed consent will be assessed to determine eligibility for study entry. The clinical trial will include a control group (waiting list). Patients who meet eligibility requirements will be assigned to a waiting list, in vivo exposure and Virtual Reality. Psychological intervention consisted in a 5-session individual face-to-face delivered ACT-based treatment. The participants will be assessed through self-report instruments and observational measurements before and after treatment and at 3 months follow-up.

Conditions

• Public Speaking Fear

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	ACT	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.
BEHAVIORAL	In vivo exposure:	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...)
BEHAVIORAL	Virtual Reality	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...)

Timeline

• Start date: 2019-03-14
• Primary completion: 2021-12-31
• Completion: 2022-12-31
• First posted: 2022-10-10
• Last updated: 2023-05-11

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Spain