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. 2008 Feb 1;17(1):47-51.
doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00546.x.

When the Evidence Says, "Yes, No, and Maybe So": Attending to and Interpreting Inconsistent Findings Among Evidence-Based Interventions

Andres De Los Reyes  1 , Alan E Kazdin
Affiliations

When the Evidence Says, "Yes, No, and Maybe So": Attending to and Interpreting Inconsistent Findings Among Evidence-Based Interventions

Andres De Los Reyes et al. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. .

Abstract

An international, multi-disciplinary effort aims to identify evidence-based treatments (EBTs) or interventions. The goal of this effort is to identify specific techniques or programs that successfully target and change specific behaviors. In clinical psychology, EBTs are identified based on the outcomes of randomized controlled trials examining whether treatments outperform control or alternative treatment conditions. Treatment outcomes are measured in multiple ways. Consistently, different ways of gauging outcomes yield inconsistent conclusions. Historically, EBT research has not accounted for these inconsistencies. This paper highlights the implications of inconsistencies, describes a framework for redressing inconsistent findings, and illustrates how the framework guides future work examining how to administer and combine treatments to maximize treatment effects, and study treatments meta-analytically.

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References

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Recommended Readings

    1. Achenbach TM, Krukowski RA, Dumenci L, Ivanova MY. Assessment of adult psychopathology: Meta-analyses and implications of cross-informant correlations. Psychological Bulletin. 2005;131:361–382. Documented the general importance of informant discrepancies to adult clinical assessments. - PubMed
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    1. Achenbach TM. 2006 See reference list. A brief review of the implications of informant discrepancies for clinical assessment.
    1. De Los Reyes A, Kazdin AE. 2005 See reference list. This paper advances a theoretical framework to explain why informant discrepancies exist in clinical child assessments. - PubMed
    1. De Los Reyes A, Kazdin AE. 2006 See reference list. This paper discusses the RPC Model in more detail than the current paper. - PubMed

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