Information without Implementation: A Practical Example for Developing a Best Practice Education Control Group.
This article considers methodology for developing an education-only control group and proposes a simple approach to designing rigorous and well-accepted control groups. This approach is demonstrated in a large randomized trial. The Lifestyles trial (n = 367) compared three group interventions: (a) cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) for osteoarthritis pain, (b) CBT for osteoarthritis pain and insomnia, and (c) education-only control (EOC). EOC emulated the interventions excluding hypothesized treatment components and controlling for nonspecific treatment effects. Results showed this approach resulted in a control group that was highly credible and acceptable to patients. This approach can be an effective and practical guide for developing high-quality control groups in trials of behavioral interventions.
a Group Health Research Institute , Seattle , Washington.
Benjamin H
BH
Balderson
b Department of Psychosocial and Community Health, School of Medicine , University of Washington , Seattle , Washington.
Susan M
SM
McCurry
c Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences , University of Washington , Seattle , Washington.
Michael V
MV
Vitiello
a Group Health Research Institute , Seattle , Washington.
Susan M
SM
Shortreed
d Department of Psychology , Virginia Commonwealth University , Richmond , Virginia.
Bruce D
BD
Rybarczyk
e Department of Psychology , Duke University Medical Center , Durham , North Carolina.
Francis J
FJ
Keefe
a Group Health Research Institute , Seattle , Washington.
Michael Von
MV
Korff
D000368:Aged; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D035061:Control Groups; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders; D016896:Treatment Outcome