capafons et al Flashcards
what did the capafons et al study believe ?
systematic desensitization works for the fear of flying
why did capafons et al believe systematic desensitization worked for fear of flying
1- people who travel in aero planes still have fear so flooding doesn’t work
2- sd allows for an element of control
3- patient can go at their own speed
4- it is practical as it involves imagining the feared situation and the live situation isn’t necessary
what were the aims ?
- offer some conclusions about the assessment of success of systematic desensitization applied to the phobia of flying
what was the sample
-41 people with a flying phobia
-20 assigned to the treatment (8 males and 11 females)
-21 to the waiting control groups (9 males 12 females )
how were participants recruited ?
volunteer sampling via a media campaign
this informed them of the opportunity to take part in a free intervention programme aimed at treating the fear of flying
what diagnostic scales were used to assess participants fear of
flying ?
IDG - FV
EMV
EPAV
what was the IDG-FV ?
spanish general diagnostic information tool on the fear of flying
obtains data about patients life history
what were the EMV scales ?
measures pre and post treatment:
- fear displayed during flight
- fear of flight preliminaries
- fear without involvement, e.g seeing a plane
what are the EPAV scales ?
- scales of expectation of danger and anxiety
- measured occurrence of catastrophic thoughts
what was the procedure ?
- participants watched a video of a plane trip
what happened 3 minutes prior to the participants watching the video ?
- habituation session, where patients heart rate, skin surface temperature, temperature and muscle tension was measured
how was the room in which the participants watched the video in controlled ?
- room of 5x3.5 m
- at 22.5 degrees celsius
- sat 1.8 m from television
what happened after the patient watched the video ?
- a new appointment was made either for presenting the treatment or for the next assessment session
how long was the interval between the 1st and 2nd session in both groups ?
- 8 weeks
what was the treatments group treatments ?
- 2, 1 hour sessions weekly
- standardized individual desensitization
- involved breathing relaxation and imagination
results : control group
passing of time doesn’t lead to a quantitative change in any dependent measures
results : treatment group
- shows significant changes take place in both self reported variables and those of the interview
- subjects performances in psychophysiological measures during the simulation significantly improve
give objective measures of the study
heart rate
muscle tension
skin surface temperature
which measure did not show no significant difference to the treatment group after their treatment
skin surface temperature
what was the overall result for the treatment group ?
90% of patients with fear of flying undergo significant changes with the respect to the fear level presented by non treated participants
conclusion
systematic desensitization is an effective treatment for decreasing or eradicating fear of flying
strengths
VALID- sample groups balanced in terms of age sex and self reported fear level
RELIABLE- objective measures such as cardio back heart rate, mioback, muscular tension, skin temp measure
RELIABLE- standardized procedure e.g same distance from tv each time
no participant variables
ETHICAL- more ethical than flooding, clients have control, learn calming techniques
INTERNAL VALIDITY- extraneous variables controlled e.g temperature
weaknesses
SAMPLE- volunteer sampling may mean that people who are extremely fearful of flying may not participate as they want to completely avoid their phobia = not as representative
GENERALISABILITY - results only applied to fear of flying, may not work with other phobias
APPLICATION= no evidence to see how long the benefits of the treatment last
RELIABILITY - 10% of people didn’t show reduction in fear - not universally effective
ETHICS- control group didn’t get treated
