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Treatment-as-usual in effectiveness studies: What is it and does it matter?

Andrée Löfholm, Cecilia LU ; Brannstrom, Lars ; Bergström, Martin LU and Hansson, Kjell LU (2013) In International Journal of Social Welfare 22(1). p.25-34
Abstract
A hallmark of an evidence-based practice (EBP) is the systematic appraisal of research related to the effectiveness of interventions. This study addressed the issue of interpreting results from effectiveness studies that use treatment-as-usual (TAU) as a comparator. Using randomised controlled studies that evaluate the effectiveness of multisystemic therapy as an illustrative example, we show that TAU includes a wide variety of treatment alternatives. Estimated treatment effects on recidivism suggest that TAU seems to contain a greater variation in underlying risk than experimental conditions, supporting the hypothesis that the content of TAU could affect outcomes. Implications for the realisation of an EBP are discussed.
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
effectiveness studies, evidence-based practice, standard service, transportability, treatment-as-usual
in
International Journal of Social Welfare
volume
22
issue
1
pages
25 - 34
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • wos:000311975300004
  • scopus:84870506804
ISSN
1369-6866
DOI
10.1111/j.1468-2397.2012.00870.x
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f735e642-520c-45a5-ade0-127e2769b042 (old id 3400958)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:37:51
date last changed
2022-04-27 23:54:25
@article{f735e642-520c-45a5-ade0-127e2769b042,
  abstract     = {{A hallmark of an evidence-based practice (EBP) is the systematic appraisal of research related to the effectiveness of interventions. This study addressed the issue of interpreting results from effectiveness studies that use treatment-as-usual (TAU) as a comparator. Using randomised controlled studies that evaluate the effectiveness of multisystemic therapy as an illustrative example, we show that TAU includes a wide variety of treatment alternatives. Estimated treatment effects on recidivism suggest that TAU seems to contain a greater variation in underlying risk than experimental conditions, supporting the hypothesis that the content of TAU could affect outcomes. Implications for the realisation of an EBP are discussed.}},
  author       = {{Andrée Löfholm, Cecilia and Brannstrom, Lars and Bergström, Martin and Hansson, Kjell}},
  issn         = {{1369-6866}},
  keywords     = {{effectiveness studies; evidence-based practice; standard service; transportability; treatment-as-usual}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{25--34}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Social Welfare}},
  title        = {{Treatment-as-usual in effectiveness studies: What is it and does it matter?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2397.2012.00870.x}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/j.1468-2397.2012.00870.x}},
  volume       = {{22}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}