| Methods |
Randomised controlled trial |
| Participants |
35 men with combat‐related PTSD in Hawaii |
| Interventions |
12 bi‐weekly sessions of 60‐75 minutes EMDR (n = 10) vs 40 minutes biofeedback‐assisted relaxation vs routine care (n = 13) vs TAU (n = 12) (all interventions included in meta‐analysis) |
| Outcomes |
Mississippi PTSD scale, IES, STAI, BDI |
| Notes |
Experienced therapists |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
Comment: The method of sequence generation was not reported. |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
Comment: The method of allocation concealment (if any) was not reported. |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
High risk |
Comment: There was 1 drop‐out from the biofeedback‐assisted relaxation. There was no reason given for this drop‐out. These were not properly accounted for in terms of statistical tests. |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Low risk |
Comment: All specified and expected outcomes appear to have been reported. The CAPS is emphasised as the primary outcome measure throughout. |
| Other bias |
Unclear risk |
Comment: There were no other obvious sources of bias. |
| Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias)
All outcomes |
High risk |
Comment: Participants were aware of their allocation. |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias)
All outcomes |
High risk |
Comment: Assessors were not blind, although a second CAPS was administered by a blind assessor. |
