| Study characteristics |
| Methods |
RCT, USA |
| Participants |
12 respiratory therapists |
| Interventions |
1) Experimental: stress management programme: 8 weekly group sessions on average 60 minutes and a manual containing homework assignments to be completed between sessions. Topics covered were deep muscle relaxation, cognitive‐behavioural exercises to identify and examine stressful situations, replacing negative thoughts and emotions with adaptive rational cognitions, effective communication skills, social support networks and problem‐solving skills, physical fitness, nutrition and weight management and maintenance of behaviour change.
2) Control: no intervention |
| Outcomes |
MBI, C‐H Inventory of Phys Symptoms, The Hassles Scale, The Uplifts Scale |
| Identification |
|
| Notes |
MBI included in analysis 4.1 |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
"The 12 participating employees were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: 6 to an 8‐week stress management programme and 6 to a wait‐list control group." (p. 120) |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
Not reported |
| Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias)
All outcomes |
High risk |
Participants not blinded. |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias)
All outcomes |
High risk |
Participants were not blinded whereas outcomes are self‐reported. |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
There were no dropouts because of small sample size. |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Low risk |
All outcomes reported. |
| Other bias |
Low risk |
We did not find any indications of other sources of bias. |
