Randomized clinical trial investigating the efficacy of self -administered interventions for reducing pathological academic worry
Year: 2009
Type: article
Study designs: Randomized Controlled Trial, Clinical Trial
Abstract: Despite the ostensible prevalence of academic worry at the college and university level, there is a paucity of research in this area.In addition, there is an even greater dearth of research investigating treatments for excessive and uncontrollable academic worry.Further, the research on non-pharmacological treatment strategies for reducing pathological worry (as seen in its most severe form in generalized anxiety disorder; GAD) is limited.The primary goal of this study was to investigate the potential benefits of two self-administered interventions for reducing pathological academic worry.Participants experiencing pathological academic worry (N = 113) were randomized to one of four conditions: (a) worry exposure (WE), (b) expressive writing (EW), (c) a credible placebo control, consisting of pulsed audio-photic stimulation (APS), and (d) wait-list control (WLC).Participants were instructed to practice their interventions three times per week for one month.Participants in all three of the intervention conditions showed significant improvement on self-report measures, while no such changes were observed for the control group.Findings were mixed on the objective measures.In general, neither the WE nor EW conditions consistently outperformed placebo, and in some cases, EW failed to outperform the waitlist control group at post-treatment.Overall,
Author: Kate Wolitzky‐Taylor
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2120603556