Reporting randomized trials of psychological and psychosocial interventions: consort-spi 2018

Abstract

Randomized controlled trial (RCT) is a “gold standard” evidence-based approach to the assessment of psychological and psychosocial interventions; the results of RCT provide an opportunity to give a scientifically grounded decision about the effectiveness and the applicability of intervention. The current biopsychosocial approach requires the necessity of having precise, comprehensive, and transparent reports about conducting RCT in medicine, as well as psychological and psychosocial interventions, including psychotherapy. The unified standards for reporting RCT’s results were developed by the CONSORT group (CONsolidated Standards Of Reporting Trials, the latest edition in 2010). They are currently considered a guide for presenting results in leading medical journals in the world. The expansion of CONSORT, which described the standards for presenting the results of psychological and psychosocial intervention CONSORTSPI was developed in 2018. The article presents the history of developing the standards, their scientific and methodological principles, the brief content, and the main instruments used (check-list and block-scheme). It is important to consider the guidelines of CONSORT-SPI 2018 and follow them in order for the scientific community to assess the quality, the applicability of different contexts, as well as replicability of psychological and psychosocial interventions studies.