How to distinguish promotion, prevention, and treatment trials in public mental health: development and validation of the VErona-LUgano Tool (VELUT).

ABSTRACT:

Background

Promoting mental health, preventing mental disorders and providing effective treatments are public health priorities. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) frequently evaluate mental health and psychosocial support interventions to achieve one or more of these objectives. Distinguishing between RCTs focused on mental health promotion, prevention or treatment remains conceptually and methodologically challenging. No standardized tool exists to position RCTs along a promotion-to-treatment continuum in mental health. We aimed to develop and validate the VErona-LUgano Tool (VELUT) for distinguishing RCTs along the promotion-to-treatment continuum.

Methods

An interdisciplinary tool development group (TDG) was established. The Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outc

SUBMITTER: Purgato M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12646188 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature