Capafons Et Al Flashcards
Aims
To see if SD is a successful therapy for fear of flying.
Whether fear of flying reduced spontaneously without treatment.
Demonstrate that SD remains comparable in effectiveness with other therapies.
Method
41 people with a fear of flying
20 randomly assigned to treatment group
21 assigned to waiting control group
Two groups balanced in terms for age, gender, strengths of fears and some physiological measures.
Recruited as a result of a newspaper advertising free intervention programme to treat fear of flying
Independent variables
Treatment/ no treatment
Dependent variables measured pre and post treatment
Answers to questions used to diagnose fear of flying:
-interviews to find out about the fear of flying to each person including life history
Two questions measuring fear of flying:
-fear of flying scale that measured level of anxiety In different flying situations.
-2 scales measuring persons catastrophic thoughts and how much they thought they’d have a physical reaction to flying
Physiological measures:
Physical measure of heart rate, muscular tension and skin temperature
Procedure
1) participants were individually interviewed by researchers to assess their fear of flying, also had to answer questionnaires
2)physiological measures were taken whilst watching as video of someone else taking a flight. whilst watching, extraneous variables (room temp, distance from screen) was controlled. Participants were given time to habituate to room environment.
3) further interview to explain moving on to the treatment (therapy group)
Or next assessment session (waiting control group)
4) treatment took place at the university.
5)two one-hour sessions a week for patients in the experiment group (12&15 total, 8 weeks)
6) treatment had 3 phases:
4 sessions of relaxation & imagination training.
2 sessions of elaboration of phobia stimulus hierarchy work.
3-5 sessions of SD with stop thinking.
7)post treatment measures:
Measures taken after 2 flights out and return 7n days after treatment.
Physiological measures obtained whilst watching hideous prior to take off
Results
-There was no significant difference between control group and treatment group prior to treatment.
-Comparisons were made between before sad after treatment measures:
Control group:no significant difference between before and after
Treatment group:several significant reductions
Treatment group scored significantly differently than the control group after treatment ton all but two measures (palm treatment ands fear treatment without involvement)
Conclusions
-intervention program successfully reduced fear of flying in treatment group (except 10% - 2 participants didnt show significant reduction)
-no corresponding reduction in fear in control group (1 participants didnt show showed change)
Shows mere passage of time was no enough to reduce fear.
Generalisation
Limited due to sample size
41 participants all had a fear of flying, recruited through news letter offering free intervention programmes.
Findings may not apply to individuals with other types of phobias or those without existing fear of flying.
Reliability
High due to standardised procedures used in research
Study employed consistent and controlled measures to assess the fear of flying including self report scales interviews and physiological measures such as heart rate
Enhances reliability of dinginess as treatment and measurement. Measurements can be easily repeated in other studies to test effectiveness of SDa for treating phobias.
Application
Practical applications for treating individuals with a fear of flying
Study demonstrated that SD effectively reduces fear of flying with a success rate of 90% in treatment group.
Shows that SD can help individuals gradually confront their fears and reduce anxiety, making it a useful therapeutic approach for treating phobias in real world settings such as aviation and travel therapy
Validity
Strengthened by the use of multiple measures to assess afffrectiveness of treatment
Study used birth slef report scores and physiological measures to assess participants fear of flying.
Physiological measures provide objective data, while self reports capture the participants personal experiences making it less likely that the findings are influenced by inaccurate self assessment
Ethics
Ethically sound due to informed consent and right to withdraw
Participants were fully aware of the nature of the study, SD sand risks involved. They also knew they had the right to withdraw anytime without any penalty (respects their well being)
This demonstrates the study adhered to ethical guidelines by prioritising participants welfare during phobia treatments throughout research process.
