The effects of a Dutch version of an Internet-based treatment program for fear of public speaking: a controlled study

The present research is a randomized controlled trial in which the effects of a Dutch version of «Talk to me», an Internet-based cognitive-behavioral treatment for fear of public speaking were investigated. Forty one participants with a formal diagnosis of social phobia were assigned at random to either «Talk to me», or a waiting list control group. The group treated by an Internet-based cognitive-behavioral treatment resulted in significant improvement from pre-test to pos-test on all social phobia measures and in social and work impairment. Talk to me was significantly more effective than the control group on a number of measures: fear and avoidance to the target behaviors, fear of public speaking and work impairment. Regarding to the effect size (Cohen-d) for the measures related to social phobia the Internet treatment had a high within-group (d = 1.13) and between-groups effect size (d = .86). Results achieved with the Talk to me program are comparable to results of face-to-face treatment of social phobia. Finally, it is important to emphasize that Talk to me was well accepted by the participants.