Svedlund 1983.
| Methods | RCT with 2 parallel conditions | |
| Participants | 102 participants with IBS, aged 16‐60 years (mean 24), 70 females Exclusion criteria: other somatic or mental disorders requiring treatment, had previous abdominal surgery affecting the gastrointestinal tract, were on a disability pension or were not fluent in Swedish |
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| Interventions | Intervention: brief dynamic psychotherapy, based on Malan 1979, for 10 x 1‐hr long sessions over 3 months (mean 7.4 sessions), with medical TAU Control: TAU ‐ bulk‐forming agents and, when appropriate, anticholinergic drugs, antacids and minor tranquillisers |
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| Outcomes | Pre, post and 15 months (after start of psychotherapy) Mental symptoms by CPRS and somatic symptoms, all rated by psychiatrist. On follow‐up, participant rating. In addition, SSIAM | |
| Notes | Additional data provided by study author used for psychiatric symptoms, anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms and somatic symptoms. SSIAM data used for social adjustment measure Data used for somatic symptoms, and anxiety, depression and general symptoms. SSIAM for social adjustment | |
| Risk of bias | ||
| Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) | Unclear risk | Comment: stratified by gender and randomised. Details of method not provided |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) | Unclear risk | Comment: inadequate description |
| Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes | High risk | Comment: therapists were raters of some cases and may have been unblinded (CPRS, SSIAM): high risk Self reports (social adjustment): low risk No psychotherapist was blinded to the treatment delivered Blinding participants to treatment group not possible |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes | Low risk | Quote: "dropouts can be ruled out as contributing to different outcomes" Comment: only 1 drop‐out from each group |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) | Unclear risk | Comment: insufficient information to permit judgement. No published report on pre‐specified outcomes. Additional information was obtained from the authors to be entered in a meta‐analysis |
| Other bias | Unclear risk | Comment: insufficient information to permit judgement |