Journal of pain and symptom management
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2016
Randomized Controlled TrialEffects of a Short-Term Dance Movement Therapy Program on Symptoms and Stress in Patients with Breast Cancer Undergoing Radiotherapy: A Randomized, Controlled, Single-Blind Trial.
Integrated interventions with combined elements of body movement and psychotherapy on treatment-related symptoms in cancer patients are relatively scarce. ⋯ The short-term DMT program can counter the anticipated worsening of stress and pain in women with breast cancer during radiotherapy.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · May 2016
Randomized Controlled TrialMeasuring Depression-Severity in Critically-ill Patients' Families with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ): Tests for Unidimensionality and Longitudinal Measurement Invariance, with Implications for CONSORT.
Families of intensive care unit patients are at risk for depression and are important targets for depression-reducing interventions. Multi-item scores for evaluating such interventions should meet criteria for unidimensionality and longitudinal measurement invariance. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ), widely used for measuring depression severity, provides standard nine-, eight-, and two-item scores. However, published studies often report no (or weak) evidence of these scores' unidimensionality/invariance, and no tests have evaluated them as measures of depression severity in intensive care unit patients' families. ⋯ The longer eight- and nine-item PHQ scores appear inappropriate for assessing depression severity in this population, with constructs based on smaller subsets of items being more promising targets for future trials. The Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials requirement for prespecified trial outcomes is problematic because unidimensionality/invariance testing must occur after trial completion. Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials could be strengthened by endorsing rigorous assessment of composite scores and encouraging use of the most appropriate substitute, should trial-based evidence challenge the legitimacy of prespecified multi-item scores.