The contribution of the therapist’s competence in the treatment of adolescents with generalized social phobia

Background: The purpose of this study was to explore which of the outcomes attained by the application of the psychological program Intervención en Adolescentes con Fobia Social (Intervention in Adolescents with Social Phobia) can be attributed to the therapist’s competence. Method: The experimental study consists of three conditions: Waiting list control, Group treated by expert psychologists, and Group treated by inexperienced psychologists, with a sample of 110 Spanish adolescents whose mean age was 15.42 years (SD = 0.97, range: 14-18). All participants met the criteria for diagnosis of Generalized Social Phobia) and most of them were female (65.45%). Results: (i) The effect size attributable to the therapist was low compared to the effect size associated with the manual-based treatment program in the dependent variables measured, and (ii) Expert therapists attained a much greater remission of the criteria for the diagnosis of Generalized Social Phobia among participants than did the inexperienced therapists. Conclusions: The IAFS Program was responsible for most of the change measured in participants.