Attention Bias Modification Treatment for Children With Social Anxiety

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Children with social anxiety will be randomly assigned to either Attention Bias Modification Treatment (ABMT) designed to direct attention away from threat or a placebo control condition not designed to change attention patterns. Outcome measures will be depression and social anxiety symptoms as measured by gold standard questionnaires as well as diagnosis of social phobia disorder and symptom counts derived from structured clinical interviews with children and their parents. We expect to see significant reduction in social anxiety symptoms in the Attention Bias Modification Treatment (ABMT) group relative to the placebo control group.

Official Title
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Attention Bias Modification Treatment for Children With Social Anxiety

Conditions
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Social Phobia

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Attention Bias Modification Treatment (ABMT)
* Behavioral: Attention Control Condition


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: children suffering from social anxiety Exclusion Criteria: Pharmacological or Psychological treatment

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 7 Years
Maximum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Basic Science
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Quadruple


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Attention Bias Modification (ABM)<br>Attention training via repeated trials of a dot-probe task intended to direct attention away from threat stimuli. | Behavioral: Attention Bias Modification Treatment (ABMT)<br>* Behavioral: Attention Bias Modification Treatment (ABMT) Attention training using a computerized spatial attention task (dot-probe) modified to alter threat-related attention patterns.<br>|
| Placebo Comparator: Placebo<br>Attention training via repeated trials of a dot-probe task not intended to change threat-related attention patterns. | Behavioral: Attention Control Condition<br>* Attention training using a computerized spatial attention task (dot-probe) not intended to alter threat-related attention patterns.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV (ADIS) | The ADIS is a semi-structured interview assessing anxiety, mood and externalizing disorders in children according to DSM-IV criteria. | expected average time frame of 6 weeks. Participants will be assessed before and after the administriation of the training/control protocols. | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children (SPAI-C) and for Parents (SPAI-c-p) | The SPAI is a 26-item self and parent-report instrument designed to assess social anxiety in children and adolescents. Items assess a range of potentially anxiety-producing situations. | expected average time frame of 6 weeks. Participants will be assessed before and after the administriation of the training/control protocols. | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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attention bias modification treatment, cognitive bias modification, attention training, social anxiety