BMJ 2004;328:282-285 (31 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7434.282
Education and debate
Evaluating the health effects of social interventions
Hilary Thomson, higher scientific officer1,
Robert Hoskins, lecturer2,
Mark Petticrew, associate director1,
David Ogilvie, specialist registrar in public health medicine1,
Neil Craig, lecturer3,
Tony Quinn, project manager4,
Grace Lindsay, lecturer5
1 MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow, G12 8RZ,
2 Nursing and Midwifery School, University of Glasgow, Glasgow,
3 Public Health and Health Policy, Division of Community Based Sciences, University of Glasgow,
4 Easterhouse Money Advice Centre, Easterhouse, Glasgow,
5 School of Nursing, Midwifery and Community Health, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow
Correspondence to: Hilary Thomson hilary@msoc.mrc.gla.ac.uk
Is no evidence better than any evidence when controlled studies are unethical?
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Rigorous evidence on the health effects of social interventions is scarce1
2 despite calls for more evidence from randomised studies.3 One reason for the lack of such experimental research on social interventions may be the perception among researchers, policymakers, and others that randomised designs belong to the biomedical world and that their application to social interventions is both unethical and simplistic.4 Applying experimental designs to social interventions may be problematic but is not always impossible and is a desirable alternative to uncontrolled experimentation.3 However, even when randomised designs have been used to evaluate social interventions, opportunities to incorporate health measures have often been missed.5 For example, income supplementation is thought to be a key part of reducing health inequalities,6 but rigorous evidence to support this is lacking because most randomised controlled trials of income supplementation have not included health measures.5 Current moves to increase uptake of benefits offer new opportunities to . . . [Full text of this article]
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Rapid Responses:
Read all Rapid Responses
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bmj.com, 30 Jan 2004
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- Attendance Allowance
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bmj.com, 4 Feb 2004
[Full text]
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- Trisha Greenhalgh, et al.
bmj.com, 11 Feb 2004
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- Re: Attendance Allowance
- Robert Hoskins, et al.
bmj.com, 12 Feb 2004
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bmj.com, 17 Feb 2004
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- Re: RCT may not be the 'gold standard'
- Vicki J Strange, et al.
bmj.com, 18 Feb 2004
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- Authors Response
- Hilary Thomson, et al.
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- Re: RCT may not be the 'gold standard'
- Robert T Mathie
bmj.com, 6 Apr 2004
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