Piper 1990.
| Methods | RCT (participants matched in pairs by QOR, sex and age, then assigned to 1 condition or another) with cross‐over design. Wait‐list controls were used here for comparison | |
| Participants | 105 psychiatric outpatients referred from a walk‐in clinic. Axis I DSM‐III diagnoses were affective (31%), adjustment (23%), anxiety (7%) and impulse control (8%). 32% of participants had axis II diagnoses. Mean age 31 years, 65% female | |
| Interventions | Intervention: short‐term individual psychotherapy, manualised, based on Malan 1976 and Strupp 1984, for a maximum of 20 weekly 50‐min sessions (actual mean 18.6) Control: wait‐list subsequently received STI therapy. Sessions were audio‐recorded, rated by Therapist Intervention Rating System. 8 therapists, mean experience 11.5 years (range 4‐35) |
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| Outcomes | QOR, SAS, Interpersonal Dependency Scale (2 subscales used), Interpersonal Behaviour Scale, GSI of SCL‐90, BDI, Trait Anxiety Scale, Rosenberg's Pre‐(therapy, wait‐list), post (therapy, wait), follow‐up/post‐therapy, then overall follow‐up ‐ 5‐month intervals. Self‐Esteem Scale, Insight Scale, life satisfaction by 7‐point Likert scale | |
| Notes | Only immediately post‐treatment data used for SCL‐90, BDI and Trait Anxiety Scale Unable to use SAS data as not presented with means and standard deviations | |
| Risk of bias | ||
| Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) | Unclear risk | Quote: "The research coordinator matched patients in pairs...and randomly assigned one member to the immediate therapy condition and the other member to the delayed therapy control condition" Comment: insufficient information about the sequence generation process |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) | Unclear risk | Comment: insufficient information provided |
| Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes | Low risk | Comment: self report data (SCL‐90, BDI, STAI) considered low risk of detection bias |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes | Unclear risk | Comment: it was reported that 11 in the immediate therapy condition and 9 in the delayed therapy condition dropped out, and 67/86 provided follow‐up data. Insufficient information was provided on reasons for missing data to determine judgement of bias |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) | High risk | Comment: ≥ 1 outcomes are reported incompletely so they could not be entered in a meta‐analysis |
| Other bias | Unclear risk | Comment: insufficient information to permit judgement |