Community Therapist Response to Technology-Assisted Training in Exposure Therapy for Childhood Anxiety Disorders.
A single Zoom class makes therapists say they’ll do exposure, but without follow-up the new tech sits unused.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Whiteside et al. (2022) gave 90 minutes of tech-assisted exposure training to community therapists. The goal was to see if a short online lesson could make them use exposure more often for kids with anxiety.
They asked the therapists what they thought before and after the training. They also checked if the therapists actually used the new tech tools later.
What they found
After the session, therapists said they liked exposure better and planned to use it more. But when the researchers looked at real records, the new tech tools were barely touched.
In short: attitude up, tech use flat.
How this fits with other research
Lindhiem et al. (2015) pooled 25 trials and found that adding apps or texting to therapy gives a small but real boost to client outcomes. Their data say tech helps when it is USED.
Zohrabi et al. (2025) got high use with a therapist-managed app for autism self-care. The difference: a BCBA stayed in the loop, nudging families to open the app.
Lee et al. (2022) also saw low follow-through after short online parent modules. Same story as H et al.: brief training lifts ratings, but real behavior needs more support.
So the field shows a clear pattern: quick tech trainings excite people, yet actual tech use needs ongoing contact or prompts.
Why it matters
If you run staff PD, plan for booster check-ins. After a 90-minute Zoom, add a short weekly email or 5-minute chat to ask, “Did you open the app this week?” That tiny prompt can turn good intentions into real exposure sessions with anxious kids.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Schedule one 5-minute follow-up call next week to ask each therapist to show you the app open on their screen.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Despite the efficacy of exposure for childhood anxiety disorders (CADs), dissemination has been unsuccessful. The current study examined community-therapist response to a brief (90-minutes) training in technology-assisted exposure therapy for CADs. The results indicated that therapists found the training in the therapy approach and technology acceptable, despite endorsing mainly non-exposure-based practice prior to the training. Training also increased positive beliefs about exposure, t (23) = 4.32, p < .000, that persisted 6 months later, t (23) = 4.56, p < .000. In addition, the number of therapists reporting an intention to implement exposure increased substantially from baseline (41.7%) to post-training (83.3%), with many therapists (70.8%) reporting use of exposure within the 6 months following training. However, automatically recorded data indicated little use of the technology. Results suggest that a dissemination message focusing on exposure is acceptable and has the potential to increase the use of this central treatment component.
Behavior modification, 2022 · doi:10.1177/0145445520982966