ArticleJMIR pediatrics and parenting2024
Effectiveness of Unguided Internet-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Subthreshold Social Anxiety Disorder in Adolescents and Young Adults: Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial.
Article in JMIR pediatrics and parenting, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Efficacy of digital interventions in social anxiety disorder: a systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Article
- The impact of social media use on college students' mental health: a narrative review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Self-help cognitive behavioral therapy for gaze anxiety in young adults: Protocol of a 3-arms, multicenter, randomized controlled trial.PCN reports : psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSocial anxiety disorder (SAD) is a common mental disorder in adolescents and young adults. Early intervention and support could help prevent the development of full-blown SAD. Considering that adolescents with social anxiety symptoms do not prefer face-to-face sessions due to their fear of communicating with therapists, internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) was implemented.
objectiveThis study aimed to examine the effectiveness of complete self-help ICBT for subthreshold SAD in high school and college students with no history of mental disorders.
methodsA multicenter randomized controlled trial designed to demonstrate the objective was conducted from December 2022 to October 2023. Participants were students enrolled at 6 universities and 1 high school. The intervention was a complete self-help ICBT and consisted of 10 text-based sessions that taught cognitive behavioral therapy techniques for social anxiety in youths and young adults. The comparison was a no-treatment condition (control group), which was randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio by a computer program. A total of 2 psychological scales were used to assess the severity of social anxiety, and 1 psychological scale each was used to measure symptoms of depression, general anxiety, and quality of life.
resultsIn total, 77 students were enrolled as study participants. Through the randomization procedure, 38 participants were included in the intervention group, and 39 patients were included in the control group. Results from the analysis of covariance with depression as covariates showed that the participants in the intervention group had significantly reduced symptoms of social anxiety, depression, and general anxiety compared to the control group. The response rate was 61% (19/31) in the intervention group and 24% (9/38) in the control group: odds ratio (OR) 4.97 (95% CI 1.61-16.53; P=.003) in the Fisher exact test. The recovery rate was 68% (21/31) in the intervention group and 34% (13/38) in the control group: OR 3.95 (95% CI 1.32-12.56; P=.008). The OR for the remission ratio was 2.01 (95% CI 0.64-6.60; P=.20) and for the risk of worsening was 0.23 (95% CI 0.002-1.33; P=.10), but no significant difference was observed.
conclusionsThe results of this randomized controlled trial show that fully unguided ICBT improves subthreshold SAD in adolescents and young adults. Interpretation of the effectiveness in preventing SAD that meets the diagnostic criteria is limited by sample size and the follow-up period. Future studies should include more extended observations and larger sample sizes in high-risk populations.
trial registrationUMIN-CTR UMIN000050064; https://center6.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/ctr/ctr_view.cgi?recptno=R000057035.
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