Brief, online treatment of youth injection fear
As part of a dissertation study, the Child program at Boston University’s Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders (CARD) is offering a free, online intensive treatment for 8 to 16 year old youth with a fear of injections/shots.
- This two-session treatment is delivered across two weeks
- The first session lasts approximately 1.5 hours and the second session is 3 to 4 hours long
- During this treatment, you and your child will learn about fear of injections and then your child will practice facing that fear through a series of exposures. For example, we might start with looking at pictures of needles together and then work on more challenging practices.
- Providing education about anxiety and engaging in exposures are widely accepted and effective interventions for specific fears. In this study, we will be testing these effective practices using a telehealth, intensive treatment format
- Such an approach may alleviate youths’ specific fears in a much shorter amount of time, and allows youth and families to receive high quality treatment from the comfort of their own homes.
- As an additional part of the study, youth and their parents will complete measures that examine how youth process information related to their fear of shots.
- Youth will be compensated with gift cards for their completion of study measures.
If you are interested in participating in the study, please contact the principal investigator, Alicia Fenley, M.A. at afenley@bu.edu.
