Can attention control conditions have detrimental effects on behavioral medicine randomized trials?

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Attention control (AC) conditions are used to balance nonspecific attention in randomized trials of behavioral interventions. Very little guidance about which behavioral interventions and outcomes merit AC is available in the literature. The primary aim of the present study is to demonstrate a scenario in which use of AC in a behavioral randomized trial was unnecessary and possibly detrimental.

Methods

Exploratory analyses were performed in a randomized controlled trial that tested whether a patient-centered counseling intervention reduced low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in 355 participants with peripheral arterial disease, compared with AC and usual care (UC) conditions. The patient-centered counseling intervention was designed to activate participants

SUBMITTER: Pagoto SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3570637 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature