ReviewPsychosomatic medicine2011
Usual and unusual care: existing practice control groups in randomized controlled trials of behavioral interventions.
Review in Psychosomatic medicine, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 181 papers, 26 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
181 citing papers in PubMed, 26 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Reporting Completeness of Usual Care Comparator Groups in Exercise-Based Trials for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Meta-Research Systematic Review.Musculoskeletal care · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review of physical activity-based interventions to prevent or reduce chronic post-surgical pain.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2026Pooled it
- Wired for companionship: a meta-analysis on social robots filling the void of loneliness in later life.The Gerontologist · 2025Pooled it
- The Efficacy of Individual Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Eating Disorders: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.The International journal of eating disorders · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic review identifying effective teaching methods and their combinations for increasing empathy in physicians: pairwise and network meta-analysis.BMC medical education · 2025Pooled it
- Selection and reporting of usual care comparators when designing primary care trials of complex health interventions: a systematic review.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2025Pooled it
- Interventions for increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in children aged five years and under.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Estimating the true effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions under variable comparator conditions: A systematic review and meta-regression.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2023Pooled it
- Examination of the knowledge gap of return-to-work outcomes in routine outpatient treatment for common mental disorders: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Pooled it
- Treatment-As-Usual Control Groups in Brief Alcohol Intervention Trials: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2022Pooled it
- Control interventions in randomised trials among people with mental health disorders.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Feasibility, acceptability, and effects of behavior change interventions for improving multiple dietary behaviors among cancer survivors: a systematic review.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2022Pooled it
- Individual Resilience Interventions: A Systematic Review in Adult Population Samples over the Last Decade.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of effects of psychosocial interventions on spiritual well-being in adults with cancer.Psycho-oncology · 2021Pooled it
- Interventions for increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in children aged five years and under.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Couple and family therapies for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Psychosocial interventions for cancer survivors: A meta-analysis of effects on positive affect.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2019Pooled it
- Interventions for increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in children aged five years and under.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Interventions for treating urinary incontinence after stroke in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- General and Domain-Specific Effectiveness of Cognitive Remediation after Stroke: Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis.Neuropsychology review · 2018Pooled it
121 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the use of existing practice control groups in randomized controlled trials of behavioral interventions and the role of extrinsic health care services in the design and conduct of behavioral trials.
methodSelective qualitative review.
resultsExtrinsic health care services, also known as nonstudy care, have important but under-recognized effects on the design and conduct of behavioral trials. Usual care, treatment-as-usual, standard of care, and other existing practice control groups pose a variety of methodological and ethical challenges, but they play a vital role in behavioral intervention research.
conclusionsThis review highlights the need for a scientific consensus statement on control groups in behavioral trials.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.