Specific phobia: Acrophobia, fear of heights. Specifieke fobie: hoogtevrees
Conditions
Interventions
The intervention 0-phobia is 6-week self-help VRET for fear of heights, that is delivered through a smartphone application (app) in combination with rudimentary cardboard VR goggles. 0-phobia includes
Sponsors
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Eligibility
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: In order to be eligible to participate in this study, a subject must meet all of the following criteria: -are between 18-64 years old -scoring above 45.45 on the AQ-Anxiety (one standard deviation below the mean of a previous acrophobic sample; Cohen, 1972; Steinman and Teachman, 2011) -have access to a smart phone (Android) and internet -willing to participate in the research study and providing informed consent
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: A potential subject who meets any of the following criteria will be excluded from participation in this study: -present with symptoms of severe depression or suicidality respectively as measured with the PHQ-9; total score > 19 or a score 3 on the suicidal ideation question of the WSQ, (Donker et al. 2009) -have insufficient knowledge of the Dutch language -are under current treatment for specific phobia or psychotropic medication (unless on stable dosage for the previous 3 months and no changes planned during the study period).
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| The main study parameters are the post-test differences in anxiety symptoms between the experimental and control condition, and follow-up differences in anxiety symptoms between baseline and follow-up in the experimental condition. The main parameter will be the 20-item anxiety subscale of the Acrophobia Questionnaire (AQ, Cohen; 1977). The anxiety subscale has a 7-point Likert scale (‘not anxious’ to ‘extremely anxious’), total score 0-120. | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Secondary parameters are: • The Attitudes Towards Heights Questionnaire (ATHQ; originally Abelson & Curtis, 1989, with minor modifications to the wording reported in Coehlo, Santos, Silvério, & Silva, 2006) is a 6-item measure in which individuals read pairs of dichotomous adjectives describing ways people may feel about heights (e.g., “Good/Bad,” “Safe/Dangerous”), and rate how they feel about elevated places on a scale of 0 (which corresponds with the first adjective) to 10 (which corresponds with the second adjective). The ATHQ has been used in several height fear treatment studies and is sensitive to treatment effects (Coehlo et al., 2006; Emmelkamp, Bruynzeel, Drost, & van der Mast, 2001). Reliability is good (Steinman & Teachman, 2014). • Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck et al., 1988) is a 21-item self-report questionnaire assessing symptoms of anxiety. Patients record how much they have been bothered by each symptom during the past week, including the day the questionnaire is administered. Each item is rated on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 0 = not at all to 3 = severely: I could barely stand it. The total score ranges from 0 to 63. The following guidelines are recommended for the interpretation of scores: 0–9, normal or no anxiety; 10–18, mild to moderate anxiety; 19–29, moderate to severe anxiety; and 30–63, severe anxiety. Internal consistency is high (0.90-0.94) and convergent validity is good (Brown et al., 1997). • System Usability Scale (SUS; Bangor et al., 2008): 10 items about user friendliness of the app. The SUS is composed of 10 statements that are scored on a 5-point scale of strength of agreement. Final scores for the SUS can range from 0 to 100, where higher scores indicate better usability. This means that products that are at least passable have SUS scores above 70, with better products scoring in the high 70s to upper 80s. Truly superior products score better than 90. Products with scores less than 70 should be considered candidat | — |
Contacts
Public ContactT. Donker
VU University (Vrije Universiteit) Department of clinical psychology
Outcome results
None listed