To Örebro University

Internet-based cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) has proven to be effective for university students with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and public speaking fears. The aim of this study was to investigate if the promising results can be transferred to high school students suffering from this condition. A total of 19 speech-anxious high school students with SAD were randomized either into nine weeks of Internet-delivered CBT or to a waitlist control group. Significant improvements were found on measures of social anxiety, general anxiety, and depression. Effects were maintained at a 1-year follow-up. The average within and between-group effect sizes for the primary social anxiety scales at post-test were Cohen’s d = 0.98 and 1.38 respectively. However, the average number of completed modules in the CBT program was low. Although compliance can be improved, the results suggest that Internet-based guided self-help is effective in the treatment of high school students with SAD.