Adolescent Perspectives on How an Adjunctive Mobile App for Social Anxiety Treatment Impacts Treatment Engagement in Telehealth Group Therapy
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. SmartCAT
1.2. Current Study
2. Materials and Method
2.1. Participants
2.2. Intervention
2.3. Procedure
2.4. Coding
3. Results
3.1. Relationship
It gave something else to relate to [the other group members] … It was just nice to know “Oh, I’m not the only person who is doing all these”. … It was more comforting ‘cause although it’s something you haven’t done before, you’re not the only person doing it.
3.2. Expectancy
[SmartCAT] was a little more than just a companion app because it’s almost a standalone thing… They compound on each other… but they would be different from what we were doing in group therapy, so it was all—it was fresh… It was really easy to stay up with what was going on in the group even if you missed bits.
3.3. Attendance
It affected [attendance] in a good way because whenever I would think about the app, I would think of group therapy… If I did something with the app, then I would be like “Ah, this I can share…” It motivated me a lot to attend.
3.4. Clarity
3.5. Homework
I had like a band practice, first one, and I was very anxious for that. I did the deep breathing [module] and it calmed [me] down a lot. So, before I go, I normally do some deep breathing. I calm down a lot more, and then I go, and I have fun.
I think it would allow them to recall a whole lot easier so they can keep it in their mind like when they practice. And when they get a preview… they can just prepare for it… Since they’re more prepared, they might be more willing to participate.
4. Discussion
Strengths and Limitations
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
- How did using SmartCAT affect your relationship with the group facilitators?
- ○
- Probe: Did using SmartCAT help/get in the way of your relationship (comfort sharing, working as a team) with the group facilitators? Did you have a good relationship with facilitators?
- How did using SmartCAT affect your relationship with other group members?
- ○
- Probe: Did SmartCAT help/get in the way of your relationship with group members? Did you have a good relationship with group members?
- What about SmartCAT can be changed to help people have better relationships with their group facilitators or other group members?
- Before group therapy, what were your thoughts on using mobile apps as a part of group therapy?
- ○
- Probe: Did you expect mobile apps as a part of group therapy would be helpful for you/for people with social anxiety? What do you think of when you hear the words “mobile mental health apps”? What do you think of when you hear the words “group therapy”?
- ○
- Probe: What were your beliefs on how effective group therapy can be before using SmartCAT?
- Now that group therapy is finished, has SmartCAT changed any of these thoughts or expectations?
- ○
- Probe: How has using SmartCAT changed your thoughts on how mobile apps can be used in group therapy/be used to reduce social anxiety?
- ○
- Probe: How has SmartCAT affected your beliefs on how effective group therapy can be? How helpful was SmartCAT for you?
- What about SmartCAT can be changed to help people have more positive expectations about group therapy or mobile mental health apps?
- How did using SmartCAT affect your attendance to group therapy sessions?
- ○
- Probe: Did SmartCAT make it more/less convenient to attend sessions, easier/harder to remember to attend group therapy?
- How did using SmartCAT affect your motivation to attend group therapy sessions?
- ○
- Probe: Did SmartCAT make you more/less motivated to attend therapy sessions?
- What about SmartCAT can be changed to help people attend group therapy sessions?
- How did using SmartCAT affect your understanding of group therapy?
- ○
- Probe: Did using SmartCAT make your understanding of your or others role in treatment/what happens in and out of sessions/your goals for therapy more/less clear?
- How did using SmartCAT affect your understanding of what social anxiety is?
- ○
- Probe: Did using SmartCAT increase your understanding of social anxiety symptoms/treatment?
- What about SmartCAT can be changed to help people have a better understanding of group therapy or social anxiety?
- How did using SmartCAT affect your participation during group therapy sessions?
- ○
- Probe: Did SmartCAT make it easier/harder to participate, help you feel prepared to discuss or practice skills in group sessions?
- How did SmartCAT affect how you learned and applied skills outside of group therapy sessions?
- ○
- Probe: Did using SmartCAT make you more/less likely to use skills outside of group therapy sessions?
- What about SmartCAT can be changed to help people participate during group therapy sessions or practice skills outside of session?
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Category | Code | Frequency | Kappa |
---|---|---|---|
Relationship | Comfort with sharing | 4 | 0.85 |
Interactions and communications | 2 | 1.00 | |
Shared experiences | 1 | 1.00 | |
No impact on relationship | 6 | 1.00 | |
Suggestion about relationship | 5 | 1.00 | |
Expectancy | Low expectations | 7 | 0.93 |
Positive expectations | 4 | 1.00 | |
Positive shift in beliefs | 8 | 1.00 | |
Previous experiences | 5 | 0.88 | |
No impact on expectancy | 3 | 0.85 | |
Suggestion about expectancy | 4 | 1.00 | |
Attendance | Behavioral attendance | 1 | 1.00 |
Motivation to attend | 3 | 1.00 | |
No impact on attendance | 4 | 1.00 | |
Suggestion about attendance | 3 | 1.00 | |
Clarity | Psychoeducation about social anxiety | 5 | 0.65 |
Role and purpose of therapy | 5 | 0.79 | |
No impact on clarity | 3 | 1.00 | |
Suggestion about clarity | 2 | 1.00 | |
Homework | App reminders | 4 | 1.00 |
In-session participation | 11 | 1.00 | |
Reinforce practice | 6 | 0.90 | |
Usability | 4 | 0.85 | |
No impact on homework | 2 | 0.66 | |
Suggestion about homework | 4 | 1.00 |
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Lu, C.; Chu, W.; Madden, S.; Parmanto, B.; Silk, J.S. Adolescent Perspectives on How an Adjunctive Mobile App for Social Anxiety Treatment Impacts Treatment Engagement in Telehealth Group Therapy. Soc. Sci. 2021, 10, 397. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10100397
Lu C, Chu W, Madden S, Parmanto B, Silk JS. Adolescent Perspectives on How an Adjunctive Mobile App for Social Anxiety Treatment Impacts Treatment Engagement in Telehealth Group Therapy. Social Sciences. 2021; 10(10):397. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10100397
Chicago/Turabian StyleLu, Celine, Wendy Chu, Shannon Madden, Bambang Parmanto, and Jennifer Susan Silk. 2021. "Adolescent Perspectives on How an Adjunctive Mobile App for Social Anxiety Treatment Impacts Treatment Engagement in Telehealth Group Therapy" Social Sciences 10, no. 10: 397. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10100397
APA StyleLu, C., Chu, W., Madden, S., Parmanto, B., & Silk, J. S. (2021). Adolescent Perspectives on How an Adjunctive Mobile App for Social Anxiety Treatment Impacts Treatment Engagement in Telehealth Group Therapy. Social Sciences, 10(10), 397. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10100397