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High Attrition (high + attrition)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Evaluation of the feasibility of and results of measuring health-status changes in patients undergoing surgical treatment for skeletal metastases

JOURNAL OF ORTHOPAEDIC RESEARCH, Issue 1 2000
Denis R. Clohisy
The goal of treating patients with skeletal metastases is to decrease pain and improve or maintain physical function. Assessment of the effectiveness of treatment should therefore include evaluation of patient-rated measures of quality of life. The primary objective of the study was to determine the feasibility of studying the effect of surgical treatment of skeletal metastases on quality of life. The secondary objective was to provide data that begin to characterize this effect. The characteristics of patients with skeletal metastases are heterogeneous, patient enrollment in the study may be low, high attrition occurs secondary to death, and well accepted health-status measures (such as the Short Form-36) may be ineffective at detecting changes in health status: therefore, it is difficult to study these patients. High attrition and adjuvant treatment with radiation or chemotherapy made it impractical to draw firm conclusions about the effect of surgical treatment, but a trend toward improvement in selected health-status measures for both physical and mental health was noted. Analysis of patient-rated health-status scores as predictors of survival indicates that improvement in these scores 6 weeks after surgery is associated with an increase in the length of survival following surgery. [source]

Efficacy of interpersonal therapy-group format adapted to post-traumatic stress disorder: an open-label add-on trial

DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, Issue 1 2010
Rosaly F.B. Campanini MSc.
Abstract Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a highly prevalent condition, yet available treatments demonstrate only modest efficacy. Exposure therapies, considered by many to be the "gold-standard" therapy for PTSD, are poorly tolerated by many patients and show high attrition. We evaluated interpersonal therapy, in a group format, adapted to PTSD (IPT-G PTSD), as an adjunctive treatment for patients who failed to respond to conventional psychopharmacological treatment. Methods: Research participants included 40 patients who sought treatment through a program on violence in the department of psychiatry of Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP). They had received conventional psychopharmacological treatment for at least 12 weeks and failed to have an adequate clinical response. After signing an informed consent, approved earlier by the UNIFESP Ethics Review Board, they received a semi-structured diagnostic interview (SCID-I), administered by a trained mental health worker, to confirm the presence of a PTSD diagnosis according to DSM-IV criteria. Other instruments were administered, and patients completed out self-report instruments at baseline, and endpoint to evaluate clinical outcomes. Results: Thirty-three patients completed the trial, but all had at least one second outcome evaluation. There were significant improvements on all measures, with large effect sizes. Conclusions: IPT-G PTSD was effective not only in decreasing symptoms of PTSD, but also in decreasing symptoms of anxiety and depression. It led to significant improvements in social adjustment and quality of life. It was well tolerated and there were few dropouts. Our results are very preliminary; they need further confirmation through randomized controlled clinical trials. Depression and Anxiety, 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Evaluation of the feasibility of and results of measuring health-status changes in patients undergoing surgical treatment for skeletal metastases

Effective Methods to Improve Recruitment and Retention in School-Based Substance Use Prevention Studies

JOURNAL OF SCHOOL HEALTH, Issue 9 2009
Jean-Marie Bruzzese PhD
ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Poor recruitment and high attrition may invalidate results of research studies. This paper describes successful recruitment and retention strategies in a school-based substance use prevention trial and explores factors associated with intervention attendance and retention. METHODS: A total of 384 parent-child dyads from 15 schools in the New York Metropolitan area participated in a control trial, testing the efficacy of parent-training to prevent youth substance use. Assessments were completed immediately post-intervention and 6-, 12-, and 24-month postintervention. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine which familial and study characteristics predicted attendance in the intervention and retention by parents and youth. RESULTS: 84% of intervention parents attended 4 of the 5 workshops; 83% of control parents attended their single workshop. Intervention attendance was predicted by parent job status, but this was not significant after controlling for other family factors. Retention rates ranged from 87% to 91% over the 2 years. No family characteristics predicted retention, but time since baseline and attendance at treatment workshops and the control workshop did. For children, age at baseline and ethnicity predicted retention, but this did not remain significant in the adjusted model. CONCLUSION: Intervention attendance was high and retention rates far exceeded the minimum standard of 70% retention in behavioral studies. Recruitment and retention strategies were effective for different family constellations. Efforts to maximize participation in both treatment and control interventions are critical to retention in longitudinal trials. [source]