4.3.4 - Contemporary Study Flashcards
AO1:
Aim:
- to see if systematic desensitisation is a successful therapy for the fear of flying
Procedure:
- there were 41 pps recruited using a media campaign about a free opportunity to take part in a treating fear of flying programme
- 20 pps were put in the treatment group and 21 in the control group awaiting SD therapy, groups were balanced by age, gender and strength of fear
- fear was measured through a self report and clinical interview to scale level of anxiety and catastrophic thoughts
- treatment was 8 weeks in the university with 2x1 hour sessions weekly, after this, measures were taken after 2 flights
Findings:
- SD is a successful treatment as only 10% of those treated showed no significant reduction in fear measures
- treatment group showed significant reduction in fear measures showing changes in skin temp, heart rate and muscular tensions
Eval: GRAVE - strengths
R) yes, well controlled procedures eg control group was carefully matched with treatment group by age, gender, strength of fear and physical measures like heart rate taken before treatment to act as a baseline measure. therefore study could be replicated by another group or a different phobia to increase reliability of SD as a successful treatment of phobias
A) yes app, results showed that SD is a successful treatment as only 10% of those treated showed no significant reduction in fear measures. therefore theres practical app as this therapy could be offered as a main method to treat flying phobia as it brings personal, social and economic benefits as individuals can fly on business or to visit family
eval - weaknesses
G) not generalisable as there were 41 pps recruited using a media campaign about a free opportunity to take part in a treating fear of flying programme. Therefore not G to other fears as they only showed that SD works for flying phobia (only small sample size too) even if it also works for other phobias
V) lacks task validity. eg pp had physical measures taken while watching a video simulation of a plane journey and recording heart rate, muscular tension and skin temperature. it was an artificial task as the pps were not actually flying. Therefore they may have reacted more fearful if they were actually on a plane experiencing the journey as the artificial environment would feel safer
