Health Care UtilizationOBSTACLE-SNCT06022432
Overcoming Treatment Barriers
A study testing Video of a patients testimonial and Writing Task in people with Health Care Utilization and Health Care Seeking Behavior, run by Philipps University Marburg at 1 site in Germany.
Trial summary
This study aims to assess whether negative or rather the lack of positive treatment expectations could be positively influenced by online short interventions and increase intention so seek treatment and actual help-seeking behavior when compared to a no-treatment control group. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 75 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Health Care Utilization, Health Care Seeking Behavior
- What is being tested?
- Video of a patients testimonial and Writing Task
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 171 participants
- Where
- 1 siteGermany
- Study dates
- 17 Mar 2023to 13 Jun 2024
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 75 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- at least 18 years old
- fluent in German (C Level)
- access to a computer device with internet access
Who cannot join
- non correctable hearing or visual impairment
- current in psychotherapeutic treatment or on a waiting list
- no neurological impairment or psychotic disorders
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
About this study
Official title: Overcoming Treatment Barriers: The Role of Expectations in the Behavioral Intention of Treatment Seeking for Social Anxiety
This study aims to assess whether negative or rather the lack of positive treatment expectations could be positively influenced by online short interventions and increase intention so seek treatment and actual help-seeking behavior when compared to a no-treatment control group. Further, the study investigators like to explore if specifically focusing on intensifying positive treatment expectations vs. a reduction of expectations about negative treatment effects will influence the pattern of results differently.
Read the detailed description
The investigators expect that participants receiving an intervention e.g., amplifying positive (performance) expectancies vs. reducing negative (performance) expectancies of psychotherapeutic treatment, will show an increase in intentions to seek treatment and are more likely to report actual treatment-seeking behavior after the intervention when compared with participants who will describe their treatment expectations via a writing task.
Further, the investigators want to explore if the expectancy-modulating interventions will differently affect the intention to seek treatment within socially anxious individuals.
If participants agree, the investigators plan to assess changes in expectations, attitudes as well as actual treatment seeking behavior at a Follow-Up assessment one week later (data from Follow-Up will be analyzed exploratively and is not part of the main hypotheses).
- Being tested
- Video of a patients testimonial, Writing Task
- Medical subject headings
- Patient Acceptance of Health Care
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Video of a patients testimonialOther
Also called Free-Writing Task
The intervention is a prerecorded video of a re-enacted patient-therapist interaction whereby the patient gives a testimonial about the treatment process while either reducing negative expectations or maximizing positive expectations about therapy, respectively.
Writing TaskOther
Participants write freely about their current treatment expectations / apprehensions to seek treatment
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Reducing Negative Expectations | Experimental | This group will watch a video of a patient-therapist interaction. The testimonial of the patient is framed to reduce negative expectations about therapeutic treatment. Receives: Other: Video of a patients testimonial |
| Maximizing Positive Expectations | Experimental | This group will watch a video of a patient-therapist interaction. The testimonial of the patient is framed to maximize positive expectations about therapeutic treatment. Receives: Other: Video of a patients testimonial |
| Control Group | Other | This group will explicate their current treatment expectations in a writing task. Receives: Other: Writing Task |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Change in Treatment Expectations (Treatment Expectation Questionnaire, "TEX-Q")
Explicit treatment expectations measured by 15 items on a 11point Likert-scale
Measured: At baseline (pre-measurement), immediately after intervention (post-measurement, approximately 20 minutes after beginning of study procedure) and at Follow-Up investigation (one week after post measurement)
Changes in intention to seek treatment
Estimated Probability to seek treatment on a self-generated rating scale from 0 (not likely at all) to 100 (very much likely)
Measured: At baseline (pre-measurement), immediately after intervention (post-measurement, approximately 20 minutes after beginning of study procedure) and at Follow-Up investigation (one week after post measurement)
Secondary outcomes (1)
Intention to seek treatment (Behavioral Outcome 1)
Participants respond with "yes" or "no" to indicate their interest to receive more concrete information about social anxiety and its treatment possibilities. If the answer was answered with "yes", participants are asked to give their e-mail address to receive information which is used to assess intention to seek treatment in form of a behavioral outcome.
Measured: After intervention (post measurement, approximately 30 minutes after beginning of study procedure)
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted1 Sep 2023
- Study start17 Mar 2023
- Primary completion15 Feb 2024
- Study completion13 Jun 2024
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (1)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Health Care UtilizationStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind
- Who is masked
- Participant
- Enrolment
- 171 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Philipps University Marburg
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06022432
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 2022-76k
- Acronym
- OBSTACLE-S
- Status last verified
- Jul 2025
- First submitted
- 22 Jun 2023
- Last updated
- 10 Jul 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Publications
Schafer LN, Rief W. Expectation framing in psychotherapy: effects of approach- and avoidance-oriented video interventions on help-seeking intentions. Front Psychiatry. 2026 Jul 9;17:1869832. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1869832. eCollection 2026.
PubMed 42494740
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 10 Jul 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Overcoming Treatment Barriers: The Role of Expectations in the Behavioral Intention of Treatment Seeking for Social Anxiety
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06022432
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- OBSTACLE-S / 2022-76k
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 171 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Philipps University MarburgUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 17 Mar 2023 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 15 Feb 2024 (actual)
- Study completion
- 13 Jun 2024 (actual)
- First posted
- 1 Sep 2023 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
This study aims to assess whether negative or rather the lack of positive treatment expectations could be positively influenced by online short interventions and increase intention so seek treatment and actual help-seeking behavior when compared to a no-treatment control group. Further, the study investigators like to explore if specifically focusing on intensifying positive treatment expectations vs. a reduction of expectations about negative treatment effects will influence the pattern of results differently.
Detailed description
The investigators expect that participants receiving an intervention e.g., amplifying positive (performance) expectancies vs. reducing negative (performance) expectancies of psychotherapeutic treatment, will show an increase in intentions to seek treatment and are more likely to report actual treatment-seeking behavior after the intervention when compared with participants who will describe their treatment expectations via a writing task.
Further, the investigators want to explore if the expectancy-modulating interventions will differently affect the intention to seek treatment within socially anxious individuals.
If participants agree, the investigators plan to assess changes in expectations, attitudes as well as actual treatment seeking behavior at a Follow-Up assessment one week later (data from Follow-Up will be analyzed exploratively and is not part of the main hypotheses).
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind (participant)
- Number of arms
- 3
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Reducing Negative Expectations | Experimental | Other: Video of a patients testimonialThis group will watch a video of a patient-therapist interaction. The testimonial of the patient is framed to reduce negative expectations about therapeutic treatment. |
| Maximizing Positive Expectations | Experimental | Other: Video of a patients testimonialThis group will watch a video of a patient-therapist interaction. The testimonial of the patient is framed to maximize positive expectations about therapeutic treatment. |
| Control Group | Other | Other: Writing TaskThis group will explicate their current treatment expectations in a writing task. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 75 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (3 listed)
- at least 18 years old
- fluent in German (C Level)
- access to a computer device with internet access
Key exclusion criteria (3 listed)
- non correctable hearing or visual impairment
- current in psychotherapeutic treatment or on a waiting list
- no neurological impairment or psychotic disorders
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Video of a patients testimonialAlso: Free-Writing TaskThe intervention is a prerecorded video of a re-enacted patient-therapist interaction whereby the patient gives a testimonial about the treatment process while either reducing negative expectations or maximizing positive expectations about therapy, respectively. | Other | Maximizing Positive Expectations, Reducing Negative Expectations |
| Writing TaskParticipants write freely about their current treatment expectations / apprehensions to seek treatment | Other | Control Group |
Primary outcome
Change in Treatment Expectations (Treatment Expectation Questionnaire, "TEX-Q")
Time frame: At baseline (pre-measurement), immediately after intervention (post-measurement, approximately 20 minutes after beginning of study procedure) and at Follow-Up investigation (one week after post measurement)
Explicit treatment expectations measured by 15 items on a 11point Likert-scale
Changes in intention to seek treatment
Time frame: At baseline (pre-measurement), immediately after intervention (post-measurement, approximately 20 minutes after beginning of study procedure) and at Follow-Up investigation (one week after post measurement)
Estimated Probability to seek treatment on a self-generated rating scale from 0 (not likely at all) to 100 (very much likely)
1 secondary outcome
Intention to seek treatment (Behavioral Outcome 1)
Time frame: After intervention (post measurement, approximately 30 minutes after beginning of study procedure)
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 10 Jul 2025.
- Derived from this study: PubMed 42494740Schafer LN, Rief W. Expectation framing in psychotherapy: effects of approach- and avoidance-oriented video interventions on help-seeking intentions. Front Psychiatry. 2026 Jul 9;17:1869832. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1869832. eCollection 2026.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
The record lists no contact. Use the official record to reach the sponsor.
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Video of a patients testimonial and Writing Task in people with Health Care Utilization and Health Care Seeking Behavior, run by Philipps University Marburg at 1 site in Germany.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 3 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 10 Jul 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in Germany. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Change in Treatment Expectations (Treatment Expectation Questionnaire, "TEX-Q") (time frame: At baseline (pre-measurement), immediately after intervention (post-measurement, approximately 20 minutes after beginning of study procedure) and at Follow-Up investigation (one week after post measurement)). The study lists 2 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT06022432, which also lists 1 linked publication.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 10 Jul 2025.