The present study evaluated methods for training mental health providers (N=46) in exposure therapies (ETs) for anxiety disorders. A pilot randomized controlled trial compared: 1) an interactive, multimedia online training (ET OLT), 2) the ET OLT plus a brief Motivational Interviewing-based intervention (ET OLT + MI), and 3) a placebo control OLT. Assessments were completed at baseline, post-training, and one week following training. Both ET OLT and ET OLT + MI received high satisfaction ratings and were comparably effective at increasing knowledge of ETs as well as clinicians' overt efforts to learn and use the treatment. ET OLT + MI was the most effective method for improving clinicians' attitudes toward ETs. Results indicate that OLT is effective for disseminating knowledge about ETs to clinicians, and suggest that supplementing OLT with a brief MI-based intervention may be a promising direction to address potential attitudinal barriers to adopting these highly efficacious treatments.
KeywordsDissemination; Online Training; Exposure Therapy; Motivational Interviewing Anxiety disorders are the most common psychological disorder in the United States and are estimated to affect 28.8% of the population over a lifetime . Anxiety disorders tend to start at a young age , have a chronic course (Bruce et al., 2005;Keller et al., 1994), and result in significant disability (Buist-Bowman et al., 2006). Despite the widespread and often disabling nature of anxiety disorders, most individuals suffering from these disorders receive no or inadequate treatment (Wang, Berglund, & Kessler, 2000;Wang, Demler, & Kessler, 2002;Wang et al., 2005). Exposure therapies (ETs) include a family of highly effective psychosocial treatments that utilize exposure procedures to resolve anxiety disorders through repeated and prolonged contact of the client with the stimuli that are presumed to cause anxiety (Richard & Lauterbach, 2007). The basic premise of ETs is that individuals with anxiety disorders need to be exposed to anxietyprovoking stimuli in the absence of aversive consequences to learn that these stimuli are in * Please address correspondence to Melanie S. Harned, Ph.D., 3935 University Way NE, Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105. mharned@u.washington.edu. Phone: 206-616-1542. Fax: 206-616-1513. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. fact not dangerous, they can tolerate anxiety, and anxiety will decrease over time through a process of habituation.
NIH Public AccessEfficacy of ETs has been well-documented in hundreds of clinical trials invol...
