NCT06673407

Group Exposure Workshops for Socially Anxious Undergraduates

Pilot Trial on the Contribution of Peer Leaders and Self-Compassion to Group Exposure Workshops for Socially Anxious Undergraduates

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 200 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University of Colorado, Boulder · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 30 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The purpose of the study is to investigate the effects of four versions of a workshop for social anxiety and public speaking stress. All participants are current University of Colorado Boulder undergraduate students. Participation in this research study lasts for approximately 8 weeks, and includes a pre-workshop questionnaire, 3 weekly workshop sessions (ranging from 2 to 3 hours each, including a 5-minute post-session questionnaire), a post-workshop questionnaire, and a 1-month follow-up questionnaire.

Detailed description

The present study seeks to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy potential of a full factorial trial of a peer-led common humanity- and exposure-based workshop for social anxiety within a Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST) trial framework. The present study seeks to enroll and randomize participants (up to N = 200) by cohort to one of four conditions, reflecting a full factorial trial design. The inclusion of common humanity enhancements and the presence of a peer leader will each serve as independent variables, comprising of the following four study conditions: 1) common humanity with peer leader, 2) common humanity without peer leader, 3) peer leader without common humanity, and 4) exposure only (no common humanity and no peer leader). The investigators will assess outcomes after the workshop sessions (mid1, mid2, mid3, Post\[T1\]) and one-month following the conclusion of the last workshop session (T2). The study has the following aims and hypotheses: Aim 1: To evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of conducting a full factorial trial of a group exposure workshop for social anxiety within a MOST trial framework. Hypothesis 1a (feasibility): At least 50% of screened, eligible participants will enroll in the study. Hypothesis 1b (feasibility): Enrolled research participants will attend on average at least 2 out of 3 workshop sessions. Hypothesis 1c (feasibility): Workshops will be delivered with high fidelity (80% of content checklist items covered, on average) and low contamination (20% or less inclusion of content specific to other conditions, on average) in each randomized condition. Hypothesis 1d (acceptability): Participants will report a median satisfaction with the workshops of 4 or higher on the 1-5 Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM). Hypothesis 1e (acceptability): Participation in the group workshops will be acceptable, indicated by high overall satisfaction with the workshop across conditions (mean rating of \>20 on the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire-8). Hypothesis 1f (acceptability): ≤20% of participants will report a study burden of 4 or higher on a 1-5 burden measure. Aim 2: To evaluate the feasibility and efficacy potential of primary and secondary outcomes. Please note that the investigators do not expect to find statistically significant differences between conditions in this pilot study - only patterns of differences in the predicted directions outlined below. This pilot study will establish the foundation for a larger, definitively powered, future trial. Hypothesis 2a (Feasibility of assessment): At least 70% of participants will complete pre, post, and follow-up surveys. Hypothesis 2b (Efficacy potential): Compared to the exposure only condition, reliable change magnitudes (Jacobson \& Truax, 1991) will be higher within the peer and compassion-enhanced conditions, with additive effects for the fully enhanced condition, on measures of 1) participant retention, 2) social anxiety, 3) depression, and 4) self-compassion. Hypothesis 2c (Cultivating community): Compared to the exposure-only condition, reliable change magnitudes will be higher within the peer and compassion-enhanced conditions, with additive effects for the fully enhanced condition, on measures of 1) stigma and 2) sense of belonging. Hypothesis 2d (Barriers to access and engagement): Compared to the exposure only condition, reliable change magnitudes will be higher in the peer and compassion-enhanced conditions, with additive effects for the fully enhanced condition, on measures of 1) enjoyableness, 2) likelihood to recommend, and 3) readiness and willingness to engage in therapy. Across conditions, participants will indicate a preference for peer co-facilitators over mental health providers only.

Conditions

• Social Anxiety Disorder
• Public Speaking Fear
• Public Speaking Anxiety
• Social Fear

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Group Exposure for Social Anxiety	Group exposure therapy for social anxiety and public speaking fears.
BEHAVIORAL	Self-Compassion Enhanced Group Exposure Therapy for Social Anxiety	Group exposure therapy for social anxiety and public speaking fears plus piloted exercises from the investigators' previous studies among socially anxious undergraduates (Slivjak et al., 2022; Slivjak \& Arch, in preparation), refined during the investigators' quality improvement project, that are designed to enhance compassion.
BEHAVIORAL	Peer-Enhanced Group Exposure Therapy for Social Anxiety	Group exposure therapy for social anxiety and public speaking fears facilitated by a pair of doctoral student and undergraduate student co-facilitators who explicitly use appropriate self-disclosure to establish the co-facilitators as individuals with lived experiences of social anxiety and public speaking fears.
BEHAVIORAL	Peer and Self-Compassion Enhanced Group Exposure Therapy for Social Anxiety	Group exposure therapy for social anxiety and public speaking fears plus piloted exercises from the investigators' previous studies among socially anxious undergraduates (Slivjak et al., 2022; Slivjak \& Arch, in preparation), refined during the investigators' quality improvement project, that are designed to enhance compassion. These groups are facilitated by a pair of doctoral student and undergraduate student co-facilitators who explicitly use appropriate self-disclosure to establish the co-facilitators as individuals with lived experiences of social anxiety and public speaking fears.

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-06-12
• Primary completion: 2025-10-01
• Completion: 2025-10-01
• First posted: 2024-11-04
• Last updated: 2025-05-20

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States