Effects of affective training during social interactions on momentary anxiety in youth at risk for social anxiety

Effects of a computerised affective training intervention for social interactions, compared with an identical-appearing sham control, on momentary anxiety in young people with elevated social anxiety symptoms: a parallel-group, double-blind, randomised controlled superiority trial

Status

Recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN15002450

Enrollment

578

Registered

2026-07-27

Start date

2026-08-01

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2026-08-10

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Momentary anxiety in youth at risk for social anxiety Mental and Behavioural Disorders

Interventions

Both the active and control tasks are Internet-delivered, using an online platform to present the participants with a sequence of social interactions and instructions. Preview versions of both tasks w

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

18 Years to 25 Years

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. Elevated symptoms of social anxiety as identified using a threshold of 19 the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) 2. Age between 18 and 25 (inclusive) 3. Access to a computer with a webcam and internet connection 4. Residence/Current location in the UK or US 5. For online recruitment sites like prolific we will: 5.1. Include a prolific approval rate of 95% as an inclusion criterion. This refers to the percentage participant’s previous prolific jobs that have been approved 5.2. Require participants to have previously completed at least 10 jobs on prolific 5.3. Include 2 attention checks. If participants fail both, they are excluded from the study

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Don’t speak sufficient English to complete questionnaires and engage in the English language-based task 1.1. For online participants, this will be achieved by exclusively inviting participants from English speaking countries, specifically US and UK, who have indicated they are fluent in English 1.2. For local community participants, we will be recruiting through UCL which is an English speaking institution 2. Have sensory or other deficits that preclude them from processing the computerized tasks, confirmed by the participant during screening 3. Have over 50% of trials that have a reaction time of under 200 ms, checked during data cleaning

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Momentary Anxiety measured using self-report (5-trial average) at the end of the main intervention (end of block 2)	—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
Momentary Mood measured using self-report (5-trial average) at the end of the main intervention (end of block 2);Momentary Anxiety measured using self-report (5-trial average) at the end of the challenge block;Momentary Mood measured using self-report (5-trial average) at the end of the challenge block	—

Countries

United States of America

Contacts

Public ContactArgyris Stringaris

a.stringaris@ucl.ac.uk+44 (0) 7514 851520

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Aug 25, 2026