Evaluation of the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral therapy program for alleviating the symptoms of social anxiety in adolescents

PubMed ID: 20204902Objective: The aim of this research project is to investigate the effects of cognitive-behavioral group therapy on adolescents suffering from symptoms of social anxiety. Method: cognitive behavioral group therapy program for reducing social anxiety was developed by the authors, after which a pilot study was conducted, evaluated for deficiencies, finalized, and implemented in the following study. The final program entailed 13 sessions covering relaxation training, cognitive restructuring and exposure components. To recruit the participants for the intervention program screening tests were applied to 711 students of three different junior high schools in Izmir. 44 students (treatment=24, control = 20) who met the inclusion criteria in the seventh and eighth grades participated in the main study. Evaluation of the therapy program was ascertained using the following instruments; for students, Negative Cognitive Errors Questionnaire (CNCEQ), Cape Social Phobia Scale for Children and Adolescents (CSPSCA), Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A); and for parents, (SAS-P) was used to compare their pre-program and post-program tests results. Results: Repeated measures ANOVAs yielded significant Group × Time interactions for SAS-A (F (1, 42) =7.511, p< 0.01, ?2 =0.15), CSPSCA (F (1, 42) =6.54, p<.05) and CNCEQ (F (1, 42) = 8.295, p