ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT04575805Updated Aug 14, 2023

Internet-delivered CBM-C for OC-symptoms

An interventional study of Internet-delivered Combined Cognitive Bias Modification (iCBM-C) and Internet-delivered Cognitive Bias Modification-Interpretation (iCBM-I) in Obsessive-compulsive Disorders and Symptoms, Obsessive Thoughts and Obsessive Compulsive Behavior, sponsored by Dokuz Eylul University. Completed at 1 site in Turkey. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 40 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-08-14.

Sponsored by Dokuz Eylul University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
94
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 40 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

A factorial randomised controlled trial comparing internet-delivered combined cognitive bias modification intervention (iCBM-C) versus internet-delivered CBM-interpretation intervention (iCBM-I), internet-delivered CBM-attention intervention (iCBM-A) and wait-list control on obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms, OC-beliefs, OC-related interpretation and attention biases

Read the detailed description

Cognitive behavioral therapy, consisting of exposure and response prevention and cognitive restructuring, is still one of the most effective treatments for obsessive compulsive disorder. However, some patients do not fully benefit from the treatment. This condition results in more search for novel approaches that can contribute to effectiveness of standard treatments. In this regard, the use of technology-based methods in recent researches is noteworthy. Cognitive bias modification (CBM) is one of these current efforts of technology-based methods. CBM involves computerized tasks designed to modify some cognitive biases such as attention and interpretation associated with psychopathology, particularly anxiety disorders. Researches have generally demonstrated that cognitive bias modification can be effective way to alter cognitive biases and to reduce anxiety symptoms. In recent years, there have been also some studies to investigate the potential effects of cognitive bias modification for obsessive compulsive disorder.The results of both CBM-Interpretation (CBM-I) and CBM-Attention (CBM-A) studies have shown that it is an effective and promising method in reducing cognitive biases in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Although these studies are highly informative, they do not provide information about the causal role one bias has during the operation of another. In recent years, there has been a growing consensus that both biases arise from the same system, thereby, it is possible that modifying the system to alter one bias (e.g., attention), will also impact on the presence of the other bias.). In line with this notion, there are a couple of studies to test the effect of Combined Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM-C) which is combination of both CBM-A and CBM-I in intervention programs. The results of these studies are generally very positive. Although it is well established that attention bias and interpretation bias each have a key role in the development and maintenance of OCD, only one bias is targeted in CBM studies of OCD. Considering that a "combined cognitive bias" may contribute to the maintenance of several disorders, in order to try to maximise the potential clinical impact, the present research aims at exploring whether the combination of the CBM-A and CBM-I procedures would be more effective in reducing cognitive biases and OC symptoms than either alone. It is expected that internet-delivered CBM-C (iCBM-C) will result in superior treatment outcomes as indexed by internet-delivered CBM-I intervention only (iCBM-I), internet-delivered CBM-A intervention only (iCBM-A), and wait-list control (WLC).

02

Conditions studied

  • Obsessive-compulsive Disorders and Symptoms
  • Obsessive Thoughts
  • Obsessive Compulsive Behavior
03

In context

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

635 studies on the registry are indexed under Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder; 166 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 94 is above the median of 45 across 520 interventional studies indexed under Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Browse Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder studies →

Lead sponsor

Dokuz Eylul University is the lead sponsor of 261 studies on the registry; 35 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 40 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Fluent in written and spoken Turkish
  • Daily access to the internet by computer
  • No participation on any other interventional study or clinical trial
  • The presence of high obsessive compulsive symptoms (Turkish version of Padua Inventory-Washington State University Revision scores > 65.81).

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • The absence of high obsessive compulsive symptoms (Turkish version of Padua Inventory-Washington State University Revision scores \< 65.81)
  • Suicidal ideation and severe psychotic symptoms (a rating of slight (i.e., 1) or greater on any item within the domain based on their responses to The (DSM-5) Self-Rated Level 1 Cross-Cutting Symptom Scale-Adult Version
  • No access to the internet and computer
  • Color blindness
  • A current diagnosis of neurological and psychiatric disorder
  • Ongoing psychological/psychiatric treatment
  • Ongoing participation in other interventional study or clinical trial
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

DSM diagnostic criteria

The American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental health diagnoses. DSM-5 (2013, revised as DSM-5-TR in 2022) replaced DSM-IV, and some studies still name the older edition. “Meets DSM criteria for …” means diagnosed by that edition’s diagnostic criteria, usually by a clinician in an interview.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Factorial assignment
Masking
Single (Participant)
Enrollment
94 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Internet-delivered Combined Cognitive Bias Modification

    CBM Version 1 is the combination of internet-delivered Cognitive Bias Modification-Interpretation and internet-delivered Cognitive Bias Modification-Attention interventions taking place over 4 weeks (eight sessions, twice per week).

    Behavioral: Internet-delivered Combined Cognitive Bias Modification (iCBM-C)

  • Experimental
    Internet-delivered Cognitive Bias Modification-Interpretation

    CBM Version 2 is an internet-delivered Cognitive Bias Modification-Interpretation intervention taking place over 4 weeks (eight sessions, twice per week).

    Behavioral: Internet-delivered Cognitive Bias Modification-Interpretation (iCBM-I)

  • Experimental
    Internet-delivered Cognitive Bias Modification-Attention

    CBM Version 3 is an internet-delivered Cognitive Bias Modification-Attention intervention taking place over 4 weeks (eight sessions, twice per week).

    Behavioral: Internet-delivered Cognitive Bias Modification-Attention (iCBM-A)

  • No intervention
    Wait-List Control

    This arm is wait-list control group which will also receive internet-delivered Combined Cognitive Bias Modification intervention after the follow-up assessment

Interventions

  • BehavioralInternet-delivered Combined Cognitive Bias Modification (iCBM-C)

    The iCBM-C is online CBM intervention which is the combination of iCBM-I and iCBM-A interventions for obsessive-compulsive symptoms delivered in eight sessions, twice per week for 4 weeks. The presentation order of the two intervention components will be counterbalanced to allow exploration of any order effects. Thereby, half of the participants in iCBM-C group will complete the iCBM-A task followed by iCBM-I, while the other half will complete the iCBM-I task followed by iCBM-A during each session.

  • BehavioralInternet-delivered Cognitive Bias Modification-Interpretation (iCBM-I)

    The iCBM-I is online CBM intervention for obsessive-compulsive symptoms comprised of delivery of OCD related scenarios taking place over eight sessions, twice per week for 4 weeks.

  • BehavioralInternet-delivered Cognitive Bias Modification-Attention (iCBM-A)

    The iCBM-A is online CBM intervention for obsessive-compulsive symptoms comprised of delivery of the modified dot-probe task taking place over eight sessions, twice per week for 4 weeks.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in Padua Inventory-Washington State University Revision

    Self-report questionnaire of obsessive compulsive symptoms composed of 39 items on a 5-point scale. Total score ranges from 0 to 156. Higher scores indicate greater severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (worse outcome).

    Time frame: Screen, Baseline (pre-intervention), post-intervention at week 4, 1-month follow-up

  2. Change in Obsessive Beliefs Questionnaire-44

    Self-report questionnaire of maladaptive obsessive-compulsive beliefs composed of 44 items on a 7-point scale. Total score ranges from 44 to 308. Higher score indicates that the individual has more maladaptive obsessive-compulsive beliefs (worse outcome).

    Time frame: Baseline (pre-intervention), post-intervention at week 4, 1-month follow-up

  3. Change in OC bias index

    Measure of interpretation biases. It is a computerized task that requires participants to read and imagine themselves in 10 OC-relevant test scenarios and 10 non OC-relevant scenarios with a title and missing letter in the final word of the sentence. Participants are then provided with a recognition rating form where they see the title of only the 10 OC-relevant scenarios in which they had previously imagined themselves. Each title corresponds with four different interpretations; target bias (OC-Positive and OC-Negative), and foil bias (Foil Positive and Foil Negative). Participants are asked to rate (on a 4-point scale) each sentence independently in terms of how similar each interpretation option is to the meaning of the scenario they had previously read. Target and Foil Bias Index scores are calculated by subtracting ratings for negative items from ratings for positive items. A positive score indicates that the individual has more OC-positive interpretations (better outcome).

    Time frame: Baseline (pre-intervention), post-intervention at week 4

  4. Change in dot-probe task

    Measure of attention biases. Participants are presented 48 trials comprising all combinations of probe type ("←" or "→"), probe position (top or bottom), and picture type (neutral or threat). Each trial begins with the presentation of a central fixation cross for 500 ms. The cross is then replaced by a picture pair presented in the center of the screen for 500ms. After 500 ms, both stimuli disappear and a probe is shown in the location of one of the stimuli. Participants are instructed to indicate as quickly as possible which probe was shown via using keyboardResponse latencies are averaged to provide a single mean reaction time score for each participant. Scores are calculated by subtracting response latencies for trials in which the probe replaces threat stimuli from response latencies for trials in which the probe replaces neutral stimuli. subtracting the average. A negative bias score indicates an attention bias away from threat-related pictures (better outcome).

    Time frame: Baseline (pre-intervention), post-intervention at week 4

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change in Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21

    Self-report questionnaire of the negative emotional states of depression, anxiety and stress composed of 21 questions on a 4-point scale. There are three subscales; (1) depression, (2) anxiety, and (3) stress. There are seven items in each of the subscales; the score of which ranges from 0 to 21. Higher scores indicate greater depression, anxiety anda stress (worse outcome).

    Time frame: Baseline (pre-intervention), post-intervention at week 4, 1-month follow-up

  2. Change in Positive and Negative Affect Schedule

    Self-report questionnaire of positive and negative affect composed of 20 items with 10 positive and 10 negative affective descriptors on a 5-point scale. The positive and negative affect scales each have a potential range of 10-50. Higher scores on positive affect scale indicate higher positive affect (better outcome) whereas Higher scores on negative affect scale indicate higher negative affect (worse outcome).

    Time frame: Baseline (pre-intervention), post-intervention at week 4, 1-month follow-up

Other outcomes

  1. Feedback Form Questionnaire

    Measure of intervention acceptability and credibility. As well as items that are rated on continuous scales, there are open-ended questions to provide feedback on aspects they found helpful, unhelpful, liked, disliked and general improvements.

    Time frame: post-intervention at week 4

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Dokuz Eylul University
    İzmir, Turkey
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Sep 2020 to primary completion in Mar 2021, 5 months.

Of 234 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, half reached primary completion within 43 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 22 and three quarters within 65. This study's 5 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 237 studies reached it within 43 months; a quarter within 22 and three quarters within 65.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Sep 26, 2020
First posted
Oct 5, 2020
StartActual
Sep 15, 2020
Primary completionActual
Mar 1, 2021
CompletionActual
Mar 1, 2021
Last update
Aug 14, 2023
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 14, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04575805
Collaborators
The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey
Responsible party
Sıla Derin, MA (Cilinical Psychologist, MA, Dokuz Eylul University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Oct 5, 2020
Start date
Sep 15, 2020
Primary completion
Mar 1, 2021
Completion
Mar 1, 2021
Last update
Aug 14, 2023

Study contacts

Sıla Derin, MA
study chair · Dokuz Eylul University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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