Open AccessPlanning research in psychosocial interventions
Author(s) -
Atul Ambekar,
Monica Mongia
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
indian journal of psychiatry/indian journal of psychiatry
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.485
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1998-3794
pISSN - 0019-5545
DOI - 10.4103/psychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_27_18
Subject(s) - psychosocial , psychological intervention , intervention (counseling) , psychology , research design , clinical study design , applied psychology , clinical psychology , medicine , psychotherapist , psychiatry , clinical trial , social science , pathology , sociology
A number of research designs have been used to study the efficacy of psychosocial interventions in addictive disorders, including open label studies and randomised controlled trials. Only through a rigorously conducted research, evidence base for effectiveness of a psychosocial intervention can be established. However, research on these interventions are fraught with a number of challenges. It is imperative for researchers to ask appropriate research questions based on sound theoretical understanding of psychiatric disorders, psychosocial interventions and research designs. This would help in choosing the less studied, relevant areas for in depth study as well as in using pragmatic, realistic research designs. Defining intervention clearly is as crucial, as is its uniform implementation across various treatment arms. In addition, tapping the mediators, moderators and confounders of treatment using appropriate methods while assessing the factors that directly impact the outcome is important to determine actual effects of psychosocial intervention. Barriers at different stages must be gauged proactively and dealt with, wherever possible.