A Social Anxiety Mobile Intervention for College Students Attending Therapy: A Usability and Acceptability Study

ABSTRACT

Social anxiety is significantly prevalent among college students and frequently leads to school dropout and academic underachievement. Since university counseling services are often overburdened, a mobile-based cognitive behavioral intervention was designed to support students attending therapy for social anxiety and therapists. Our main goals are to evaluate usability and acceptability of this technological system developed by a multidisciplinary team. Twenty students and three therapists participated in the usability studies. To evaluate usability we utilized a thinking aloud and question asking protocol, and the system usability scale (SUS) to assess usability and satisfaction. SPICA app demonstrated usability scores above average and the large majority of students agreed that the app was easy to use and that they would use it frequently. As for the therapist platform (database) preliminary results indicated that the database is useful but some alterations are still necessary. SPICA app demonstrated usability and acceptability among college students. A more rigorous study is needed to assess the therapist platform but preliminary results demonstrate acceptability.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carla Oliveira

Carla Oliveira is a doctorate student at University of Aveiro. Her research is dedicated to the study of mobile technologies to support CBT interventions among college students, particularly with social anxiety.

Miguel Maia

Miguel Maia is a former student of the master degree in computers and telematics engineering, currently working in the mobile applications industry.

Mário Vairinhos

Mário Vairinhos is an Assistant Professor at University of Aveiro and a researcher in the area of HCI, TUI, VR and AR at Digimedia Research center. He is the header of the Master in Development of Digital Games at University of Aveiro.

Anabela Pereira

Anabela Pereira associate professor with aggregation at the Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Director of StressLab and Head of the Master in Health Psychology and Neuropsychological Rehabilitation. PhD in Psychology, Psychotherapist and Specialist in Clinical and Health Psychology by OPP. She was president of RESAPES_AP.

Ilídio Oliveira

Ilídio Oliveira is a faculty member at University of Aveiro, Portugal, and a researcher in the Institute of Electronics and Informatics Engineering of Aveiro (IEETA), in the Biomedical Informatics and Technologies group. His research interests include biomedical informatics, mHealth and ubiquitous systems for human assistance.

Paula Vagos

Paula Vagos is a Psychologist and an Associate Professor at Universidade Portucalense. Her research has been focused on the social behaviors of adolescents and how they can be hindered, namely by social anxiety. She seeks to understand and develop ways of promoting social adaptability throughout the life span.