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The Impact of the Attention Training Technique on Attention Control and High Worry

NCT03216382 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 95

Last updated 2021-07-02

Study results available
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Summary

Excessive and uncontrollable worry has been associated with deficits in attention control. The Attention Training Technique (ATT; Wells, 1990) is a 12-minute audio recording that was developed to train attention control, so that individuals could learn to shift their attention away from maladaptive cognitive processes such as worry. The technique has shown to be promising at reducing symptoms across a variety of mental disorders (Knowles, Foden, El-Deredy, \& Wells, 2016) and is recommended for use in people who suffer from chronic worry. To date, little research has been conducted examining the benefits of using this technique in such a population. The present study aims to examine the immediate and short term effects of weekly ATT practice, compared to a control condition, in a population that suffers from high levels of worry about a variety of topics. About one-hundred participants who suffer from chronic worry will be randomly assigned to listen to the ATT or a control recording, every day for a week. Changes in attention control, worry, and cognitive processes will be examined over the course of the intervention period.

Conditions

  • Excessive Worry

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Attention Training Technique

The ATT is a 12-minute audio recording that includes sounds and a voice guiding attention to the sounds. The sounds play continuously during the training task.

BEHAVIORAL

Control Condition

In the control condition, participants listen to an audio recording with the same sounds as the ATT recording, and a voice that delivers placebo instructions.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science, Ontario

    collaborator OTHER

  • Toronto Metropolitan University

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Kathleen E Stewart, Bsc · Toronto Metropolitan University

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2017-08-15
Primary Completion
2019-06-26
Completion
2019-06-26

Countries

  • Canada

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT03216382 on ClinicalTrials.gov