Non-pharmacological interventions for caregivers ... - Update Software

Pierce 2004 (Continued)
Outcomes CES-D; SWLS; survivors’ health care service use
Timing of assessment: every 3 months. Stroke survivors’ health service use, every 2 weeks
Notes
Risk of bias
Bias Authors’ judgement Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection
bias)
Low risk “A block randomisation list with four blocks of equal sizes was
generated using a SAS code.”
Allocation concealment (selection bias) High risk “There was no concealed allocation, it was not blind.”
Blinding (performance bias and detection
bias)
All outcomes
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes
High risk “No, in this study the interviewers knew who was in web or
non-web group, as the questionnaire asked if the subject had
problems using the Internet and the web-based equipment and
control group, as the questionnaire. The study coordinator was
not blinded to the allocation. The investigators were blinded to
allocation.”
High risk 9/51 (18%) participants in the experimental group and 12/52
(23%) in the comparator group were lost to follow-up. A further
6/51 (12%) participants in the experimental group and 3/52
(6%) participants comparator group were expelled from trial
because of lack of adherence
Reason for missing data: includes immediate drop-out following
assignment, death of care recipient, transfer of care recipient to
nursing home care, dissolution of care receiver/care recipient
partnership, caregiver illness, change of address, drop-out due
to time constraints
Statistical methods used to deal with missing data: none reported
Judgement: imbalance in numbers and reasons for missing data
across intervention groups, particularly in relation to refusal to
participate postrandomisation and the need for expulsions
Selective reporting (reporting bias) Low risk All study’s pre-specified outcomes have been reported
Yoo 2007
Methods RCT
Participants Source: carers (all of whom were family members) of stroke patients admitted to a
neurosurgery ward of a university hospital, Seoul, Korea
Definition of caregiver: not stated
Caregivers’ inclusion criteria: unclear
Caregivers’ exclusion criteria: none stated
Stroke survivors’ inclusion criteria: unclear
Non-pharmacological interventions for caregivers of stroke survivors (Review)
Copyright © 2011 The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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