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Introduction
Glossophobia or speech anxiety is the fear of public speaking. The word Glossophobia comes
from the Greek glossa, meaning tongue, and phobos, fear or dread. The fear of public speaking
is called Glossophobia (or, informally, stage fright). It is believed to be the single most common
phobia affecting as much as 75% of the population.1
Childhood fears are very common and it is well known that the objects of these childhood
fearsare tied to specific developmental phases.2It is quite a common problem and relatively
intense3Literature showed that over 85% of the children reported thattheir fears interfered with
their daily activities and prevented them from doing things theywould like to do.4
The fear of public speaking can be socially debilitating, and is often cited as a primary reason
why someone is unable to advance in his or her career. Different therapeutic approaches have
been developed to help people overcome or deal with such fears as public speaking.5
* Sr. Occupational Therapist, In the past, the researchers have studied the effects of relaxation and desensitization
Akshay Pratisthan, New Delhi separately.6,7,8,9,10 The intervention program in this study consists of relaxation training and
systematic desensitization both given together. Thus the need was felt to conduct a study to
** Assistant Professor, Jamia find the effectiveness of Occupational Therapy treatment (including relaxation and desensitization)
Hamdard, New Delhi in children to reduce fear of public speaking.
Institution: Aim : To find the efficacy of occupational therapy intervention for the subjects with fear of
Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi public speaking.
Period Of Study : Experimental Hypothesis : Occupational therapy intervention helps in reducing fear of public
2009-2010 Speaking in Indian school going students.
Correspondence : Null Hypothesis : There will be no effect of Occupational Therapy Intervention in reducing fear
Dr. Nazia Ali, of publicSpeaking in Indian School going students.
C-1264, Masjid Wali Gali, Tigri,
New Delhi - 110062 Methodology :
Tel. No. : • Thirty subjects with fear of public speaking were taken, which Consisted of both boys &
9818911486 girls.
E- Mail : • Study Design :Pre-test- Post-test, Experimental, Prospective, Single centre.
alinazia786@gmail.com
b. The Fear Thermometer (FT) is used which required subjects If the subjects did not signal anxiety after the second presentation
to rate their anxiety level during their speech on a scale from 0 of an item, then the therapist presented the next item. If anxiety
to 10 where 0 represented an absence of anxiety and 10 was signalled the item was repeated until an anxiety – free
represented maximal possible anxiety. FT scores were simply presentation occurred.
the values assigned. After the intervention, the subjects were again asked to fill the
PROCEDURE: scales respectively.
Students were asked to fill HAMA scale. Subjects scoring more Data Analysis and Result :
than 14 on HAMA were selected for the study. Thus a total of
Microsoft excel 2003 data sheet was used to make master chart.
30 subjects were screened for the study. Subjects selected were
All statistical tests were performed using Statistical Package for
asked to rate fear levels on FT. Subjects were taken up for the
Social Sciences (SPSS) version 15.Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test
OT intervention which included Relaxation and Desensitization.
was used to compare pre-treatment & post treatment scores among
Intervention had 15 individual treatment sessions, twice a week. the total sample. Mean and Standard Deviation of the pre-
The first 10 sessions had Relaxation for 1 hour each and the treatment & post treatment were also calculated as the sample
next 5 sessions had Desensitization for 45 minutes each which size was too small. Additionally, Mann- Whitney Test was used
included 15 minutes of discussion (relaxation training), 10 to determine any significant difference in fear of public speaking
minutesfor constructing an anxiety hierarchy and 20 minutes between males and females and also with the age groups i.e.
for Systematic pairing of visualized scenes with relaxation. 12-14 & 15-17 years. The statistical analysis, a P value equal to
Intervention : or less than .05 (Pd” .05) was accepted as significant.
Pre Post
Variables Z value P value
Mean ± S.D Mean ± S.D
HAMA 22.27 ± 5.89 11.57 ± 3.75 -4.791 .000
Table 2 : Comparison between male (N=13) and female (N=17) for HAMA and FT
Table 3 : Comparison between Gr1 (12-14 yrs.) and Gr2 (15-17 yrs.) for HAMA and FT
Graph-3(a) Comparison between Gr1 and Gr2 for HAMA Graph-3(b) Comparison between Gr1 and Gr2 for FT
• Small duration of the Protocol. 10. Woy J.R. and Efran J.S. Systematic desensitization and expectancy in
the treatment of speaking anxiety. Behav. Res. & therapy. (1972); 10:
Future Recommendations : 43-49.
• Large population should be studied. 11. Rachman S. Studies in desensitization-I. The separate effect of relaxation
and desensitization. Behav. Res. & therapy. (1965); 3: 245-251.
• Age groups below 12 & above 17 yrs. can also be included 12. Lang P.J. Experimental studies of fear reduction. J. Clini. Psychol. (1966);
in the study. 45:1618-1619.
• Experiment should be carried out on the person having some 13. Kondas O. Reduction of Examination Anxiety and ‘Stage- Fright’ By
different types of fears / phobias. Group desensitization and Relaxation. Behav. Res & Therapy. (1967);
5: 275-281.
• Follow-up should be there every two years. 14. Turner S.M, Beidel D.C. and Cooley Quille M.R. Two- Year follow-up
of Social phobic’s treated with social effectiveness. Therapy. Behav.
Conclusion : Res. Ther. (1995); 33: 553-555.
The experimental hypothesis of the study was accepted and null 15. Ollendick et al. Fears in children and adolescents: normative data.
hypothesis was discarded. The result of this study revealed that Behav. Res. Ther. (1985); 23: 465-467
Occupational Therapy intervention significantly reduces the fear 16. Ollendick T.H. and King N.J. Fears and their level of interference in
of public speaking in school going children between the age adolescents. Behav. Res. Ther. (1994); 32: 635-638.
group 12 to 17 years. 17. Scholing A. and Emmelkamp P.M.G. Exposure with and without
cognitive therapy for generalized social phobia Effects of Individual
References : and Group Treatment. Beh. Res. Ther. (1993); 31: 667-681.
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