Open AccessRecommendations for Reporting on Rehabilitation Interventions
Author(s) -
John Whyte,
Marcel Dijkers,
Susan E. Fasoli,
Mary Ferraro,
Leanna W. Katz,
Sarah Norton,
Éric Parent,
Shanti M. Pinto,
Sue Ann Sisto,
Jarrad H. Van Stan,
Lauren Wengerd
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
american journal of physical medicine and rehabilitation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.701
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1537-7385
pISSN - 0894-9115
DOI - 10.1097/phm.0000000000001581
Subject(s) - rehabilitation , operationalization , randomized controlled trial , checklist , guideline , medicine , relevance (law) , psychological intervention , consolidated standards of reporting trials , medline , medical education , applied psychology , physical therapy , psychology , nursing , pathology , cognitive psychology , philosophy , epistemology , political science , law
Clear reporting on rehabilitation treatments is critical for interpreting and replicating study results and for translating treatment research into clinical practice. This article reports the recommendations of a working group on improved reporting on rehabilitation treatments. These recommendations are intended to be combined with the efforts of other working groups, through a consensus process, to arrive at a reporting guideline for randomized controlled trials in physical medicine and rehabilitation (Randomized Controlled Trials Rehabilitation Checklist). The work group conducted a scoping review of 156 diverse guidelines for randomized controlled trial reporting, to identify themes that might be usefully applied to the field of rehabilitation. Themes were developed by identifying content that might improve or enhance existing items from the Template for Intervention Description and Replication. Guidelines addressing broad research domains tended to define reporting items generally, from the investigator's perspective of relevance, whereas those addressing more circumscribed domains provided more specific and operationalized items. Rehabilitation is a diverse field, but a clear description of the treatment's separable components, along with distinct treatment theories for each, can improve reporting of relevant information. Over time, expert consensus groups should develop more specific guideline extensions for circumscribed research domains, around coalescing bodies of treatment theory.