Meenhorst, Beau (2023) Randomized Controlled Trials in the Field of Psychotic Disorders: What do RCTs look like? Master thesis, Psychology.
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Meenhorst, Beau, S5085667, Masterthesis Klinische Psychologie RUG, final.pdf Download (761kB) | Preview |
Abstract
Mental health problems are reported all over the world. In order to offer effective mental healthcare, psychological interventions and treatments should be tested to ensure effectiveness and generalizability. RCTs can potentially be seen as the current gold standard in clinical research, but there are doubts about its ‘highest-quality’ status, such as doubts about standardisation, generalizability and methodological/statistical choices made in RCTs. Therefore, a systematic literature review on RCTs on psychological interventions for psychotic disorders was conducted to get an overview of what RCTs look like in terms of methodology and analysis. Articles published between 2021 and 2023 on Pubmed and PsycINFO were screened on abstract/title and full-text. Simple random sampling was used for the final selection (n = 8). The methodological and statistical choices, results and conclusions were summarised and a quality review conducted. I found variation in the methodology of the RCTs because the design is a contextual factor depending on the aim of the study, which seems contradictory to standardisation of research. RCTs look alike in terms of participant inclusion, trial designs, group design and statistical analyses. All studies reported a positive trial. The quality varied and most have poor reporting and poor or missing justification of choices. Limitations are the search string, the small scope and the subjective quality review. Follow-up research may benefit from revising the eligibility criteria, broadening the scope and adding a critical reflection on the implications of choices and the quality of RCTs. For daily clinical practice it is advised to stay critical and combine information on the efficacy of treatments from multiple sources of evidence.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Schwarzbach, N.R. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Clinical Psychology (CP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Sep 2023 09:51 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Sep 2023 09:51 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/2856 |
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