Effectiveness of the Groups 4 Health program for People with Social Anxiety

Intervention: Groups 4 Health (G4H) Group Psychotherapy Program. G4H is a manualised group-based intervention, which is designed to reduce social isolation through increased group-based belonging and social identification with these groups (Haslam et al., 2021a, 2021b). The G4H program was developed using leading social and clinical psychology research, which suggests that people’s group-based connections are important buffers against poor health and reduced well-being (see Haslam et al., 2018). G4H has been found to be efficacious in Phase I, II, and III trials (see Cruwys et al., 2021; Haslam et al., 2016, 2019). Across all three trials, G4H produced significant reductions in participants’ depression and loneliness symptoms. In Phase I and II trials, participants also experienced significant improvement in social anxiety symptoms. Further, in the Phase III trial G4H was found to be non-inferior to cognitive-behavioural therapy, which is considered the gold-standard treatment for many mental health conditions. In G4H, participants will complete 5 modules over the course of 2 months, each of which will run between 60 to 90 minutes. These will be run face-to-face in the Australian National University Psychology Clinic in groups of 5 to 8 participants. Each module will be run by two trained and supervised facilitators (i.e., psychology postgraduate students who are provisionally registered as psychologists). Modules 1 to 4 will be run weekly, and Module 5 is run one month later, which will allow participants to apply the social plans developed in Module 4 (i.e., total duration of 2 months). In addition to the facilitator manual, the program will be supported by a client workbook (Haslam et al., 2016). This contains a summarised version of the facilitator’s manual highlighting the main activities and learning points for each session, with space to complete in session and homework activities to support their learning. How long participants want to spend on the workbook each week will be at their discretion. Citation: Haslam, C., Cruwys, T., Haslam, S. A., Bentley, S. V., Dingle, G. A., & Jetten, J. (2021). GROUPS 4 HEALTH Workbook (Version 4.0). Social Identity and Groups Network: University of Queensland, Australia. Treatment fidelity will be assessed by brief questionnaires completed by facilitators at the end of each session. This will require facilitators to indicate how long the session ran, if any issues arose, rate the social connectedness within the group members, and rate their own leadership during the session. All sessions will also be video-recorded to investigate the behaviours of facilitators during the session. Participants will also be asked to indicate on their end of session questionnaires whether they completed last week's homework. Module content is summarised below: The first session will involve discussion of the importance of groups for health and well-being. In the second session participants will complete a "social identity map", which visually represents their own group memberships (e.g., the importance of each group) and how these groups interact (e.g., whether their groups are compatible or not); this will also include planning what their groups could look like in the future. The third session will focus on how groups work, including factors which stop people from enjoying being a member of certain groups and how they can maximise the helpfulness of their groups. The fourth session will help participants make a plan to join additional meaningful groups. The fifth and final session will ask participants to evaluate their progress and re-complete their social identity maps.