An Online- and Mobile-Based Application to Facilitate Exposure for Childhood Anxiety Disorders

Whiteside, Stephen P.; Biggs, Bridget K.; Tiede, Michael S.; Dammann, Julie E.; Hathaway, Julie; Blasi, Marc; Hofschulte, Deanna R.; Vickers, Kristin S.

doi:10.1016/j.cbpra.2019.01.002

Cited by 25 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The app has not been evaluated for efficacy, although initial pilot participants with OCD showed significant symptom reduction at posttreatment (Whiteside et al, 2014) and reported that the app was helpful extension to in-session work, generally easy to use, and convenient (Whiteside et al, 2019). Four therapists using the app with pilot patients also found that the app was easily incorporated into treatment.…”

Section: Youth and Young Adult Treatment Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobile apps for youth anxiety disorders: A review of the evidence and forecast of future innovations.

Temkin

Schild

Falk

et al. 2020

Professional Psychology: Research and Practice

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Mobile apps are touted as helpful tools to track and treat mental health difficulties. Growth in this area is particularly relevant for youth and young adults given the pervasive integration of technology into daily life among younger generations. However, there is limited empirical evidence supporting the usability and/or efficacy of mental health apps for youth and young adults with anxiety disorders. This article offers a review of studies that contained qualitative or quantitative data pertaining to a mobile application for the assessment, prevention, or treatment of anxiety in youth. Apps with a broader scope were included if their findings specifically addressed a reduction in anxiety, as were ecological momentary assessment apps that tracked anxiety. In total, 22 articles met full eligibility criteria, providing data on 14 smartphone apps studied with individuals ages 5-28. This review details each of these apps and associated studies, including their features, efficacy data, and app usability. Results indicated that treatment apps have received moderate to high marks in terms of ease of use, acceptability, and overall satisfaction. Assessment apps were rated as easy to use and had moderate to high satisfaction ratings; however, user engagement declined over time. Passive sensing technology provides the potential for smartphone apps to learn user patterns and identify behavioral indicators that map onto changes in mood. Studies reviewed here provide preliminary support for the use of apps as helpful and accessible tools in the assessment and treatment of anxiety in youth. Future directions and apps to watch are discussed. Public Significance StatementThis article reviews the evidence base supporting mobile apps for the assessment and treatment of anxiety in youth and young adults. It provides an early guide for psychologists looking for safe, reliable, and effective mobile tools available to supplement existing treatments.

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Section: Youth and Young Adult Treatment Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobile apps for youth anxiety disorders: A review of the evidence and forecast of future innovations.

Temkin

Schild

Falk

et al. 2020

Professional Psychology: Research and Practice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The technology consisted of the Mayo Clinic Anxiety Coach application as described previously (Carper, 2017; Whiteside, 2016; Whiteside et al, 2019). Anxiety Coach contains four treatment sections: (1) progress and engagement tracking, (2) psychoeducation, (3) fear ladder creation, and (4) completion of exposures.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community Therapist Response to Technology-Assisted Training in Exposure Therapy for Childhood Anxiety Disorders

et al. 2020

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Despite the efficacy of exposure for childhood anxiety disorders (CADs), dissemination has been unsuccessful. The current study examined community-therapist response to a brief (90-minutes) training in technology-assisted exposure therapy for CADs. The results indicated that therapists found the training in the therapy approach and technology acceptable, despite endorsing mainly non-exposure-based practice prior to the training. Training also increased positive beliefs about exposure, t (23) = 4.32, p < .000, that persisted 6 months later, t (23) = 4.56, p < .000. In addition, the number of therapists reporting an intention to implement exposure increased substantially from baseline (41.7%) to post-training (83.3%), with many therapists (70.8%) reporting use of exposure within the 6 months following training. However, automatically recorded data indicated little use of the technology. Results suggest that a dissemination message focusing on exposure is acceptable and has the potential to increase the use of this central treatment component.

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“…Treatment applications, such as Anxiety Coach, MindShift, REACH, SmartCAT, StudiCare Stress, and Woebot, provide psychoeducation, relaxation therapy, exposure therapy, and/or cognitive restructuring to reduce anxiety symptoms [108]. Analogous to assessment applications, users ranked treatment applications moderate to high in ease of use, acceptability, and satisfaction [108,[115][116][117][118][119][120][121][122][123][124][125][126][127]. However, further research is required to assess the efficacy of the treatment applications when used without conventional interventions [108].…”

Section: Current Assistive Technologies For Mental Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential Applications of Social Robots in Robot-Assisted Interventions for Social Anxiety

Rasouli

Gupta

Nilsen

et al. 2022

Int J of Soc Robotics

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Social anxiety disorder or social phobia is a condition characterized by debilitating fear and avoidance of different social situations. We provide an overview of social anxiety and evidence-based behavioural and cognitive treatment approaches for this condition. However, treatment avoidance and attrition are high in this clinical population, which calls for innovative approaches, including computer-based interventions, that could minimize barriers to treatment and enhance treatment effectiveness. After reviewing existing assistive technologies for mental health interventions, we provide an overview of how social robots have been used in many clinical interventions. We then propose to integrate social robots in conventional behavioural and cognitive therapies for both children and adults who struggle with social anxiety. We categorize the different therapeutic roles that social robots can potentially play in activities rooted in conventional therapies for social anxiety and oriented towards symptom reduction, social skills development, and improvement in overall quality of life. We discuss possible applications of robots in this context through four scenarios. These scenarios are meant as ‘food for thought’ for the research community which we hope will inspire future research. We discuss risks and concerns for using social robots in clinical practice. This article concludes by highlighting the potential advantages as well as limitations of integrating social robots in conventional interventions to improve accessibility and standard of care as well as outlining future steps in relation to this research direction. Clearly recognizing the need for future empirical work in this area, we propose that social robots may be an effective component in robot-assisted interventions for social anxiety, not replacing, but complementing the work of clinicians. We hope that this article will spark new research, and research collaborations in the highly interdisciplinary field of robot-assisted interventions for social anxiety.

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An Online- and Mobile-Based Application to Facilitate Exposure for Childhood Anxiety Disorders

Cited by 25 publications

References 22 publications

Mobile apps for youth anxiety disorders: A review of the evidence and forecast of future innovations.

Mobile apps for youth anxiety disorders: A review of the evidence and forecast of future innovations.

Community Therapist Response to Technology-Assisted Training in Exposure Therapy for Childhood Anxiety Disorders

Potential Applications of Social Robots in Robot-Assisted Interventions for Social Anxiety

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