| Methods |
Randomised controlled trial |
| Participants |
67 DSM‐IIIR PTSD. Various traumas. (53 women, 14 men) in the USA |
| Interventions |
Variable number of 50‐minute sessions of EMDR (n = 34) vs standard care (n = 33) |
| Outcomes |
IES, M‐PTSD, BDI, STAI, SCL‐90 |
| Notes |
Therapists were psychologists with experience ranging from less than one year to over 18. It is unclear what experience the therapists delivering usual care had. There was no report of assessing treatment adherence. |
| 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: There is no mention of any measures taken to conceal allocation. |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
Comment: 1 participant dropped out of each group. It is unclear how this was handled. |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Low risk |
Comment: All specified outcomes were reported. |
| Other bias |
High risk |
Comment: The usual care group, which included an array of interventions was not aimed at being optimally effective in terms of reducing symptom severity. There is little detail regarding the interventions offered as part of usual care and the credentials/experience of therapists delivering these interventions is not reported. |
| 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 |
Quote: "It was not possible to keep the independent evaluator blind to the treatment condition". |
