An interventional study of FobiApp AR Exposure therapy, Self-administered augmented reality exposure for cockroach phobia and FobiApp AR Exposure therapy + ABM, Self- administered augmented reality exposure combined with attentional bias modification training for cockroach phobia. in Specific Phobia, sponsored by Universitat Jaume I. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in Spain. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-10.
Sponsored by Universitat Jaume I · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility (including usability, acceptance and satisfaction) and preliminary effectiveness of a smartphone App for self-administered exposure therapy using Augmented reality for cockroach phobia (FobiApp), compared to the same self-administered exposure therapy combined with training in attentional bias modification (ABM).
Specific phobia (SP) is an intense and disproportionate fear or anxiety response toward a specific object or situation, which is actively avoided or confronted with significant distress. The prevalence of specific phobias is high, with annual prevalence estimates ranging from 3% to 15%. Despite this, only a small proportion of affected individuals seek or receive psychological treatment.
Currently, the treatment of choice for specific phobias is exposure to the feared stimulus, which involves systematic and gradual confrontation to reduce fear responses. In vivo exposure therapy, which consists of direct confrontation with the feared stimulus in real-life situations, has the strongest empirical support, although it has certain limitations. Although exposure therapy is the gold-standard treatment, barriers such as patient reluctance and logistical constraints limit its dissemination. Technological advances, including augmented reality-based exposure and attentional bias modification, have emerged as promising approaches to increase accessibility and effectiveness of interventions.
This study will be conducted following the extension of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement for pilot and feasibility studies, the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials of Electronic and Mobile Health Applications and online
TeleHealth guidelines, and the Standard Protocol Items:
Recommendations for Interventional Trials (SPIRIT) guidelines.
Specific objectives of the study include: (1) To analyse the feasibility of different recruitment and data collection methods (e.g., how broad or restrictive are the eligibility criteria, how willing are patients to participate, time needed to collect data), (2) To explore reasons for non-participation and drop-outs from treatment, (3) To assess patient satisfaction and acceptance of treatment (both quantitatively and qualitatively), (4) In addition, as a secondary objective to explore the potential effectiveness of the treatment at post-treatment and treatment at post-treatment and follow- up. A total of 40 participants will be included in the feasibility trial, with 20 participants per group.
Data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics to summarize sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, as well as feasibility outcomes including recruitment, adherence, and dropout rates. Normality assumptions will be assessed prior to analysis. Feasibility indicators will be expressed as percentages with confidence intervals. Preliminary efficacy outcomes will be explored using within-group (pre-post and follow-up) and between-group comparisons, and effect sizes will be calculated. Quantitative analyses will be performed using IBM SPSS Statistics. Qualitative data will be analyzed using thematic analysis to identify themes related to acceptability and user experience.
85 studies on the registry are indexed under Phobia, Specific; 13 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 40 is below the median of 74 across 81 interventional studies indexed under Phobia, Specific.
Browse Phobia, Specific studies →Universitat Jaume I is the lead sponsor of 80 studies on the registry; 19 are open to participants now.
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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.
Exclusion Criteria:
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.
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.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participants receive the standard intervention consisting solely of the self-administered AR exposure therapy module via FobiaApp. Compliance requires utilizing the app for 30 minutes per session, 3 times per week for 2 weeks period.
Behavioral: FobiApp AR Exposure therapy, Self-administered augmented reality exposure for cockroach phobia
Participants first complete the augmented reality exposure therapy module following the same protocol (30 minutes per session, 3 times per week for 2 weeks). Following this, for an additional two weeks, participants complete the ABM training module. This module requires participants to complete progressive levels of ABM that involve, on the one hand, changes aimed at reducing the initial rapid detection of cockroaches (hypervigilance bias) and, on the other hand, prolonged visual focus on cockroaches to produce changes aimed at reducing avoidance behavior (avoidance bias) and thus address and modify attentional biases related to the phobia (hypervigilance-avoidance attentional biases).
Behavioral: FobiApp AR Exposure therapy + ABM, Self- administered augmented reality exposure combined with attentional bias modification training for cockroach phobia.
The intervention will be delivered through a mobile application (FobiApp) that offers AR self-exposure therapy and ABM training for cockroach phobia. The AR Exposure Module consists of progressively increasing levels of difficulty and intensity, controlled by predefined variables (number of cockroaches, location, and required behavior). These levels are interspersed with psychoeducation (addressing fear, anxiety, and the justification for exposure) and educational information to debunk catastrophic beliefs. Participants are instructed to use the AR module for two weeks, at least three times per week, for 30 minutes per session.
The ABM Module (administered once participants in Arm 2 have completed the exposure module) presents different levels that require specific behaviors, such as directing initial attention to a positive stimulus instead of the cockroach and maintaining visual attention on the cockroaches for an extended period. This training aims to systematically modify hypervigilance and sustained attentional biases inherent in cockroach phobia.
Expectations and Satisfaction Questionnaire adapted from Borkovec and Nau (1972).
Participants' expectations and Satisfaction about the intervention will be assessed before the start of the treatment using the Expectations and Satisfaction Scales adapted from Borkovec and Nau (1972). This questionnaire consists of two different scales. Both include 6 items rated from 1 ("Not at all") to 10 ("Highly"), and provide information on the degree to which: 1) the treatment is perceived as logical; 2) patients are satisfied 3) would recommend the treatment to a friend with the same problem; 4) the treatment would be useful for treating other psychological problems; 5) patients perceive the treatment as useful for their specific problem; and 6) the treatment is perceived as aversive.
Time frame: Baseline (pre-treatment), immediately after the intervention (post-treatment) and follow-up 6 months after the intervention
Quantitative and qualitative opinion measure
Participants' satisfaction and opinions about the intervention A semi-structured opinion interview including both quantitative and qualitative questions will be administered, adapted from a previous feasibility study conducted by the research group (Mor et al., 2022).
Time frame: immediately after the intervention (post-treatment)
Total score obtained in System Usability Scale (SUS)
Users respond to 10 statements using a 5-point Likert scale (where 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree, offering a final score from 0 to 100.
Time frame: immediately after the intervention (post-treatment)
Change in Behavioral Avoidance Test (BAT; adapted from Öst, Salkovskis, & Hellström's, 1991).
Behavioral avoidance will be assessed using a Behavioral Avoidance Test (BAT), adapted from Öst, Salkovskis, and Hellström (1991), which measures participants' ability to approach cockroach-related stimuli during a structured behavioral task.
Time frame: Baseline (pre-treatment), immediately after the intervention (post-treatment) and follow-up 6 months after the intervention
Change in Fear of Cockroaches Questionnaire (adapted from Fear of Spiders Questionnaire; FSQ, Szymanski &; O'Donohue, 1995).
Fear of cockroaches will be assessed using the Fear of Spiders Questionnaire adapted for cockroach phobia (FSQ; adapted from Szymanski \& O\'Donohue, 1995). This self-report questionnaire measures the intensity of fear associated with cockroach-related situations.
Time frame: Baseline (pre-treatment), immediately after the intervention (post-treatment) and follow-up 6 months after the intervention
Change in attentional biases.
Attentional bias will be measured using an eye-tracking task designed to assess visual attention patterns (hypervigilance and sustained attention) toward cockroach-related stimuli. Specifically, this task assessesthe attentional biases in terms of total time spent in looking at cockroaches, first fixation direction and the number and duration of fixations.
Time frame: Baseline (pre-treatment), after the intervention (post- treatment), and 6 months after the intervention
Change in Fear and Avoidance Scales (adapted from Marks & Mathews, 1979).
Patient improvement will be assessed using The Clinician Severity Scale (adapted from Di Nardo, Brown \& Barlow, 1994). which rates overall clinical change following the intervention assessed by the clinician.
Time frame: Baseline (pre-treatment), after the intervention (post-treatment), and follow-up 6 months after the intervention.
Diagnostic interview for SP in Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV-TR (ADIS-IV) - Specific Phobia.
Assessed using the Phobia Section of the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV-TR (ADIS-IV; Di Nardo, Brown \& Barlow, 1994).
Time frame: Baseline (pre-treatment), after the intervention (post-treatment), and follow-up 6 months after the intervention
Pretreatment levels of Depressive Symptoms
Depressive symptoms will be measured using the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; Beck, Steer, \& Brown, 1996), a widely used self-report measure assessing the severity of depressive symptoms.
Time frame: Baseline (pre-treatment)
Change in Disgust Propensity and Sensitivity Scale-Revised-12 (DPSS-R-12; Sandín et al., 2008)
This questionnaire includes two subscales that measure propensity to disgust and sensitivity to disgust. It contains 12 items ranged from 1 (never) to 5 (always).
Time frame: Baseline (pre-treatment), after the intervention (post-treatment), and follow-up 6 months after the intervention.
Pretreatment levels of State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (adapted from Laux, Glanzmann, Schaffner & Spielberger, 1981)
This instrument includes two scales designed to assess state and trait anxiety respectively. Each scale contains 20 items ranged from 0 (nothing/rarely) to 3 (very much/always).
Time frame: Baseline (pre-treatment).
Plan to share: Yes — Only aggregated data will be shared. If additional data are requested for scientific purposes or to support published findings, they will be provided in an anonymized form and in accordance with applicable ethical and data protection regulations.
Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan, Analytic code
Time frame: Data will be available upon reasonable request after publication of the main study results.
Access criteria: Access to de-identified data may be granted upon reasonable request for the purpose of verifying, reproducing, or further evaluating published findings.
Data sharing details ↗ · repositori.uji.es
Start is estimated for Oct 2026; primary completion for Feb 2028, 16 months later.
Of 48 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Phobia, Specific, half reached primary completion within 24 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 11 and three quarters within 42. This study's planned 16 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 49 studies reached it within 28 months; a quarter within 11 and three quarters within 42.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Sep 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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