Effectiveness of an Online Self-applied Psychological Treatment for Rat Phobia Guided by a Virtual Assistant in the Mexican Population: A Randomized Clinical Trial
试验速览
- 阶段
- 不适用
- 状态
- 尚未招募
- 发起方
- 入组人数
- 30
- 主要终点
- Change in the scores of the fear to the rats
研究概览
简要总结
The research work proposes an exposure treatment through a virtual therapeutic assistant called Thera, that interacts verbally with the patient, to guide and control exposure therapies for phobias to small animals delivered through several channels at the same time that it analyzes the Physiological records of the patient in real-time to determine their emotional state during the intervention.
In this study it is proposed to evaluate the efficacy of a self-applied treatment where the virtual assistant allows to gradually guide an exposure treatment for rat phobias, taking advantage of intelligent devices for patient monitoring and being considered to determine the progress of the treatment.
详细描述
Specific phobias are a common disorder that deteriorates the lives of people who suffer from them. Exposure therapies have been shown to reduce the symptoms produced. However, low- and middle-income countries have the lowest rate of treatment for specific phobia due to multiple barriers that prevent approaching mental health problems, such as the disparity between the number of people who need care and the availability of professionals who can provide psychological services. To reduce the gap in the treatment of mental health problems in low and middle-income countries, the use of internet-based interventions has been proposed since they reduce the cost, the availability of the service, the waiting time, and they can be guided by a minimum amount of therapeutic care, which allows a greater number of people to receive treatment. Among the most effective proposals that have emerged to carry out psychological interventions for Specific Phobia are self-applied treatments. However, one of the main challenges posed by self-administered interventions in reducing the dropout rate of participants, since it is difficult to engage participants, which leads to attrition and non-completion of treatment. Therefore, it is necessary to consider elements that are attractive and motivate the participants to engage with the treatment. One option to increase patient's adherence could be a virtual therapist assistant that is an application focused on the area of health therapies that uses interaction with the user based on voice commands, it requires a reduced cognitive learning load and are accessible to most of the people. The content of the intervention will be self-applied through a web application including the guidance of a virtual therapist assistant. In order to integrate the benefits that Internet-based interventions provides and the assistance of a virtual therapist to guide and personalize the progress of the treatment according to the user.
The study will have two groups : 1) experimental, where the participants carry out the self-applied treatment for rat phobia supported by the virtual therapist assistant; and 2) control, where participants are on a waiting list and afterwards receive the treatment.
The group assignment of participants will be randomized.
Participants in both groups will be measured pre and post the intervention. The measurements to be obtained are the following:
Fear scale. Anxiety scale. Sense of presence and judgment of reality. User's satisfaction. Perception of utility and ease of use. Patient improvement scale.
研究设计
- 研究类型
- Interventional
- 分配方式
- Randomized
- 干预模型
- Parallel
- 主要目的
- Treatment
- 盲法
- Single (Participant)
盲法说明
The participants will not be aware the study includes two conditions. The conditions of the study are only known by the researchers and the Research Ethics Committee.
入排标准
- 年龄范围
- 18 Years 至 60 Years（Adult）
- 性别
- All
- 接受健康志愿者
- 是
入选标准
- •Meet the diagnostic criteria for specific phobia towards rats (with a mild to moderate symptomatology).
- •Have basic digital knowledge and skills (computer and internet use).
- •Have the necessary technological devices: email, computer / laptop, Smartphone, microphone, internet connection, and Bluetooth.
- •Sign the informed consent.
排除标准
- •Receiving another type of psychological or psychopharmacological treatment.
- •Being diagnosed with another type of anxiety disorder or some psychopathology.
- •Present any medical condition that puts the life of the person at risk (eg. heart disease, respiratory disease, pregnancy, among others).
结局指标
主要结局
Change in the scores of the fear to the rats
时间窗: From 2 to 4 weeks, depending on the development of the patient and the completion of the 4 sessions
It is a questionnaire that has been adapted from the Fear of Spider Questionnaire for this, the word spiders have been modified for rats and the questions have been adapted to assess phobia rats. The Fear of Spiders Questionnaire has been adapted into Castilian Spanish, is a self-reported instrument that contains 18 items that assess fear of spiders. The items are answered on a seven-point Likert scale (0 = "it is not characteristic of me" up to 6 = "it is very characteristic of me"), the minimum score is 0 and the maximum score is 108. It is expected a statistically significant change (P \< 0.05) for the fear of the rat.
Change in anxiety symptoms
时间窗: From 2 to 4 weeks, depending on the development of the patient and the completion of the 4 sessions
The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory will be used. It contains 40 statements that are grouped into two self-assessment scales that measure two different dimensions of anxiety, contain four response options with different criteria for each dimension: 1) Anxiety-trait (almost never, some sometimes, frequently and almost always); 2) Anxiety-state (no, little, regular and a lot). Answers are scored 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the positive reagents (the higher the score, the higher anxiety) and 4, 3, 2, and 1 in negative items (the higher the score, the lower the anxiety). The score can range from a minimum score of 20, up to a maximum score of 80. It is expected a statistically significant change (P \< 0.05) for symptoms of anxiety.
Change on the avoidance of the presence of the rat.
时间窗: From 2 to 4 weeks, depending on the development of the patient and the completion of the 4 sessions
The Fear Questionnaire contains 23 items that evaluate a total of 5 subscales: agoraphobia, phobia of blood and wounds, social phobia, concern about feeling anxious and depressed as well as the assessment of the global present state of phobic symptoms. The first part contains 16 items that assess the frequency with which a person avoids phobic situations on a scale of 0 to 8 (0 = I do not avoid it and 8 = I always avoid it), the minimum score is 0 and the maximum score is 120 and the second part contains 7 items that evaluate: 1) the degree to which you are worried about feeling anxious and depressed (0 = almost nothing and 8 = very severely worried), the minimum score is 0 and the maximum is 40; 2) the overall severity of the phobic symptoms (0 = there is no phobia and 8 = very severely disturbing /disabling), the minimum score is 0 and the maximum score is 8. It is expected a statistically significant change (P \< 0.05) for the avoidance and fear of the presence of the rat.
次要结局
- Level of satisfaction with self-administered treatment with a virtual assistant(From 2 to 4 weeks, depending on the development of the patient and the completion of the 4 sessions)
- Patient perception in the change of fear of rats.(From 2 to 4 weeks, depending on the development of the patient and the completion of the 4 sessions)
- Perception of the level of effectiveness and ease of use of the self-applied system for fear of rats with a virtual assistant(From 2 to 4 weeks, depending on the development of the patient and the completion of the 4 sessions)
- Degree of presence and degree of Judgment of reality(From 2 to 4 weeks, depending on the development of the patient and the completion of the 4 sessions)
研究者
María Victoria Meza Kubo
Principal Investigator
Universidad Autonoma de Baja California