Afrontamiento del miedo a hablar en público mediante realidad virtual y aceptación psicológica

Resumen

This study arises from the need to improve oral presentation skills that are among the most relevant and necessary for university graduates of the 21st century. Fear of public speaking (FPS) is very common in many students and affects different vital areas (social, academic, work, family…) where the development of these skills acquires a basic and fundamental role for the person. The cognitive-behavioral (CBT)perspective was posed and utilized as an anxiety reducing method, as well as a reductive method against negative thoughts. In the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), the objective of the past was the central control of private events, but as of present, the focus is on the improvement of flexibility and psychological acceptance. The focal aspect of ACT presently, is for the person to be able to be communicate and present publicly effectively and fluently, without the adverse effects of anxiety and fearful thoughts. Innovative technologies that are currently used in clinical applications and setting, is for example, virtual reality (VR). VR is an innovation that is widespread in the clinical practice realm, as well as in education. However, VR, and other similar applications, lack important empirical evidence, and also the flexibility that is often afforded with psychologically based applications, and thus, motivated the design of an intervention program focused on promoting psychological flexibility based on ACT and integrated live exposure (LE) and VR as an alternative to coping with FPS. A detailed study is presented and divided into three different stages in which progress was made until the development of a randomized controlled clinical trial. The initial step was a descriptive and correlational study that was conducted, which allowed us to analyze the relationship between psychological inflexibility, cognitive fusion, FPS, social anxiety, positive/negative self-talk, self-efficacy, restlessness when speaking in public, and the predictive role of psychological flexibility (FPS). The results reflected the predictive and relational characteristics between the FPS, social anxiety, and the psychological inflexibility that supported the need to promote psychological flexibility when designing effective interventions aimed at addressing FPS. FPS was shown thru the study, to increase the effectiveness of traditional cognitive- behavioral through a behavioral-contextual approach. In the second, step, a pilot study (n=4) was implemented to provide data on the effectiveness or usefulness of a treatment based on ACT in combination with VR and LE for the approach to FPS. The results supported the feasibility and usefulness of the intervention without finding large differences between the VR and LE conditions. Specifically, statistically significant reductions were found in both VR and LE for FPS and social anxiety. Reductions were also found in subjective assessments of anxiety, global interference, and satisfaction when speaking in public, results that were maintained 3 months after the end of the intervention. These results led to the development of a randomized clinical trial with a larger sample of 37 university students, with the objective of analyzing the efficacy of an intervention focused on promoting psychological flexibility in the MHP through the two exposure modalities (LE and VR). After the feedback provided by the pilot study, the pertinent adjustments were made to the intervention protocol and a control group was incorporated, in addition to more self-report, behavioral observation, and psychophysiological measures. The clinical trial showed significant changes in the expected direction for both subjective measures, self-report measures (psychological inflexibility, cognitive fusion, FPS, social anxiety, negative selfreports, self-efficacy, and public speaking restlessness) and behavioral observation (anxiety and behaviors approaching anxiety), without finding large differences in terms of efficacy between both exposure conditions. The changes were maintained at 3 months and even continued to improve in the FPS and perceived self-efficacy. In conclusion, this investigation represent a progress in the creation of effective and innovative protocols within the framework of psychological flexibility that guarantee the suitability of their application in university students to overcome the FPS, together with the advantages in terms of therapeutic efficiency, reducing the possible costs that LE entails, It could be of great help at a clinical and educational level when it comes to developing key competencies that facilitate overcoming certain psychological barriers in the academic and work world.