Results at long-term among three psychological treatments for adolescents with generalized social phobia (II): clinical significance and effect size

The purpose of this study is to examine the clinical significance and effect size of three multi-component treatments for social phobia in adolescent population. Fifty-nine adolescents who met the DSM-IV (APA, 1994) criteria for generalized social phobia were assigned to three experimental treatments (N= 44) or a control condition (N= 15). Assessments were conducted at pretest, posttest and after a 12-month follow-up. Assessment measures included a broad range of scales to evaluate maladaptation, social skills, public speech, and self-esteem as well as cognitive and avoidance symptoms of social anxiety. Short-term and long-term results do support the effectiveness of the treatments in contrast with the control condition according to high and very high effect sizes obtained. Furthermore, the outcomes based on clinical significance also show significant changes in contrast to control condition.