Sensitivity of Outcome Measures for Treatments of Generalized Social Phobia

To accurately evaluate treatments of generalized social phobia, it is not sufficient that measures be reliable and valid, they also must be sensitive to treatment-related changes. The present study evaluated the sensitivity of the following five measures: (a) The Social Phobia scale from the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI-SP), (b) the SPAI difference score (SPAI-D), (c) the short form of the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (FNE-S), (d) the Social Phobia scale from the Fear Questionnaire (FQ-SP), and (e) peak anxiety during an impromptu speech task. Unmedicated people with generalized social phobia ( N = 60) were randomly allocated to one of the following two treatments: (a) eight sessions of associative therapy (AT; i.e., free association to socially relevant thoughts and memories), followed by eight sessions of in vivo exposure (EXP); or (b) eight sessions of cognitive restructuring (CR), followed by eight sessions of EXP. Outcome measures were completed on entry into the study, after completing AT or CR (post-I), after completing EXP (post-II), and at 3-month follow-up. For each outcome measure, effect sizes were computed for post-I, post-II, and follow-up. The SPAI-SP and SPAI-D tended to have the largest effect sizes, and the FNE-S and FQ-SP tended to yield the smallest effects. The results add to the growing body of research supporting the usefulness of the SPAI scales as a treatment-outcome measure for studies of generalized social phobia.

Duke Scholars

Author Walter J. Koch Surgery, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery