Smartphone-Based Exposure Treatment for Dental Anxiety
Completed · Not applicable
Conditions studied: Phobic Disorders, Dental Anxiety, Treatment Outcome
In brief
Exposure therapy, including its self-directed forms, is effective for treatment of specific phobias. Nevertheless, there are issues with patient adherence in the use of exposure therapy, including its self-directed formats. Technological advancements, as with smartphones, may improve adherence to self-directed exposure therapy, perhaps due to exposure stimuli being more readily accessible. Thus, there is a need to examine how presenting phobic material on a smartphone might promote increased adherence in conducting self-directed exposure. Additionally, exposure can incorporate phobic material from different perspectives (i.e., first-person or third-person), which is one factor that may impact treatment effectiveness. Participants will be randomly assigned to a treatment or control condition, and complete a pre-assessment and then a post-assessment two weeks later. The assessment consists of a multimodal approach (e.g., self-report, physiological response, and overt behavior). Participants in the treatment condition will be instructed to watch a standard exposure video of a dental examination and prophylaxis three times daily for two weeks. One week of videos was shown in a first-person perspective and the same video will be shown in a third-person perspective for one week. The study can demonstrate the potential utility of smartphone-based self-directed exposure therapy for specific phobia.
Key facts
- Study ID
- NCT03461016
- Run by
- West Virginia University
- People needed
- 37
- Starts
- 2016-04-01
- Expected to finish
- 2018-12-31
- Last updated by the study team
- 2020-05-26
Who can join
Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.
You may qualify if…
- fluency in the English language
- being 18 years of age or older
- own or have access to a smartphone
- have an e-mail account
You may not qualify if…
- Reporting a low level of discomfort with dental-related care (i.e., less than a rating of "somewhat" on a single-item dental fear question)
Where it is running
- West Virginia University — Morgantown, West Virginia, United States
Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov
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