Foundations Of Clinical Research Textbook

Draw upon the foundations necessary for finding and interpreting research evidence across all healthcare professions. Revised to reflect the most current changes in the field of clinical research in rehabilitation and medicine, you'll find a growing emphasis on evidence-based practice (EBP) as well as new vocabulary that is being integrated into research and practice across disciplines.

This classic reference, now updated with the newest applications and results, addresses the fundamentals of such trials based on sound scientific methodology, statistical principles, and years of accumulated experience by the three authors.

This book serves as a comprehensive reference for a variety of research situations. This edition reflects the popular approaches to analysis and design, and addresses the focus of health-care related research through the 1990s and into the 21st century. Expanded or added topics include outcomes research and the disablement model, validity and diagnostic screening, meta-analysis, scales used in survey and outcomes research, logistic regression, measures of reliability, and data management to prepare for computer analysis. For those in the health professions, including physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, nursing, and exercise physiology.

This is the first comprehensive guide to the design of behavioral randomized clinical trials (RCT) for chronic diseases. It includes the scientific foundations for behavioral trial methods, problems that have been encountered in past behavioral trials, advances in design that have evolved, and promising trends and opportunities for the future. The value of this book lies in its potential to foster an ability to “speak the language of medicine” through the conduct of high-quality behavioral clinical trials that match the rigor commonly seen in double-blind drug trials. It is relevant for testing any treatment aimed at improving a behavioral, social, psychosocial, environmental, or policy-level risk factor for a chronic disease including, for example, obesity, sedentary behavior, adherence to treatment, psychosocial stress, food deserts, and fragmented care. Outcomes of interest are those that are of clinical significance in the treatment of chronic diseases, including standard risk factors such as cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose, and clinical outcomes such as hospitalizations, functional limitations, excess morbidity, quality of life, and mortality. This link between behavior and chronic disease requires innovative clinical trial methods not only from the behavioral sciences but also from medicine, epidemiology, and biostatistics. This integration does not exist in any current book, or in any training program, in either the behavioral sciences or medicine.

The authors provide the foundations that are necessary for finding and interpreting clinical research evidence across all healthcare professions.

Become a successful evidence-based practitioner. How do you evaluate the evidence? Is the information accurate, relevant and meaningful for clinical decision making? Did the design fit the research questions and was the analysis and interpretation of data appropriate? Here are all the materials you need to take your first steps as evidence-based practitioners…how to use the design, data and analysis of research as the foundation for effective clinical decision making. You’ll find support every step of the way as you progress from the foundations of clinical research and concepts of measurement through the processes of designing studies and analyzing data to writing their own research proposal.