Help seeking for social anxiety: A pilot randomised controlled trial
Open accessAbstract
Objective: Although social anxiety disorder is a persistent and debilitating condition, only a minority of people with social anxiety disorder seek help and little is known about methods for promoting help seeking for social anxiety disorder. This pilot trial explored the potential effectiveness of an online program designed to increase help-seeking intentions for social anxiety disorder. Methods: Australian adults with symptoms of untreated social anxiety disorder were recruited online and randomised to either the Shyness Information Online intervention ( n = 41) or an online attention control condition ( n = 41). Each program together with a baseline and postintervention survey was delivered in one session. The primary outcome was intentions to seek help from a professional. Secondary measures included anxiety literacy, help-seeking attitudes, internalised stigma, and perceived need for treatment. The acceptability of the program content and feasibility of the recruitment method were also examined. Results: Although they did not demonstrate a significantly greater increase in help-seeking intentions relative to the control group ( p = 0.097), those receiving the intervention showed more favourable attitudes towards seeking psychological help (Hedges’ g = 0.38; p = 0.025) and a higher level of perceived need for treatment ( p ≤ 0.001). Participants also showed a greater knowledge about social anxiety disorder at post-intervention than the control participants (adjusted Hedges’ g = 0.46, p < 0.001). Most respondents were satisfied with the intervention content; the recruitment strategy appeared feasible. Conclusions: Further investigation of the intervention is warranted to test its effectiveness, explore the relationships between factors that influence social anxiety disorder help-seeking behaviour and to further test the validity of the social anxiety disorder help-seeking model on which the intervention was based.
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In a small known trial, an online session of psychoeducation plus one motivational interviewing exercise, compared to an attention-matched control, improved attitudes and perceived need for, but not intentions for, seeking SAD treatment.
“They found that an online session of psychoeducation plus one MI exercise, compared to an attention-matched control, improved attitudes and perceived need for, but not intentions for, seeking SAD treatment.”
From A Randomized Trial of Brief Online Interventions to Facilitate Treatment Seeking for Social Anxiety. (2022) · cites this paper as Griffiths et al., 2017
Intentions to seek treatment for SAD improved in Griffiths et al.'s study but did not significantly differ by condition, paralleling the current study's finding.
“Intentions to seek treatment for SAD also improved in their study but did not significantly differ by conditionparalleling the current study's finding.”
From A Randomized Trial of Brief Online Interventions to Facilitate Treatment Seeking for Social Anxiety. (2022) · cites this paper as Griffiths et al., 2017
Griffiths and colleagues did not follow participants beyond Post and thus did not assess treatment-seeking behavior.
“However, they did not follow participants beyond Post and thus did not assess treatment-seeking behavior.”
From A Randomized Trial of Brief Online Interventions to Facilitate Treatment Seeking for Social Anxiety. (2022) · cites this paper as Griffiths et al., 2017
In their pilot study, Griffiths and colleagues (2017) found that the psychoeducation plus very brief motivation condition led to greater improvement in treatment seeking attitudes and mental health literacy than the attention control condition.
“In their pilot study (N = 82) of psychoeducation plus motivation versus attention control online interventions, Griffiths and colleagues (2017) similarly found that the psychoeducation plus very brief motivation condition led to greater improvement in treatment seeking attitudes and MHL than the attention control condition.”
From A Randomized Trial of Brief Online Interventions to Facilitate Treatment Seeking for Social Anxiety. (2022) · cites this paper as Griffiths et al., 2017
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- Authors
- Griffiths, K. M., Walker, J., & Batterham, P. J.
- Affiliations
- Australian National University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Griffiths, Kathleen M
- Venue
- DIGITAL HEALTH
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2017-01
- Volume
- 3
- Pages
- 2055207617712047-2055207617712047
- ISSN
- 2055-2076 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6001205
- OpenAlex
- W2620993513
- Cited by
- 24
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 1.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Digital Health (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- social anxiety disorder, help-seeking intentions, online intervention, help-seeking attitudes, perceived need for treatment, self-stigma, treatment acceptability, recruitment feasibility
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