Evaluación de resultados clínicos individuales: a propósito de un caso tratado con terapia electroconvulsiva / Assessment of individual clinical outcomes: regarding an electroconvulsive therapy case

La valoración de resultados terapéuticos y la evaluación de la eficacia y efectividad de los tratamientos es un área de interés para clínicos e investigadores. Habitualmente se utiliza la metodología basada en diseños controlados aleatorizados y la comparación intergrupos con un mínimo de participantes en cada brazo de tratamiento. No obstante, estos procedimientos raramente pueden ser aplicados en la práctica clínica habitual, si bien es importante para el clínico evaluar si los resultados del tratamiento propuesto para una persona específica cumplen con los objetivos terapéuticos, tanto por su significación estadística como por su relevancia clínica. La metodología basada en el índice de cambio fiable (Jacobson y Truax) permite estimar esta doble consideración. El objetivo del artículo es proponer un procedimiento de aplicación a través del estudio de un caso con diagnóstico de depresión mayor y tratado con terapia electroconvulsiva (AU)

Evaluation of therapeutic results and of the efficacy and effectiveness of treatments is an area of interest both for clinicians and researchers. In general, randomized controlled trial designs have been used as the methodology of choice in which intergroup comparisons are made having a minimum of participants in each arm of treatment. However, these procedures are seldom used in daily clinical practice. Despite this fact, the evaluation of treatment results for a specific patient is important for the clinician in order to address if therapeutic goals have been accomplished both in terms of statistical significance and clinical meaningfulness. The methodology based on the reliable change index (Jacobson y Truax) provides an estimate of these two criteria. The goal of this article is to propose a procedure to apply the methodology with a single case study of a woman diagnosed with major depression and treated with electroconvulsive therapy (AU)

[Assessment of individual clinical outcomes: regarding an electroconvulsive therapy case]. / Evaluación de resultados clínicos individuales: a propósito de un caso tratado con terapia electroconvulsiva.

Evaluation of therapeutic results and of the efficacy and effectiveness of treatments is an area of interest both for clinicians and researchers. In general, randomized controlled trial designs have been used as the methodology of choice in which intergroup comparisons are made having a minimum of participants in each arm of treatment. However, these procedures are seldom used in daily clinical practice. Despite this fact, the evaluation of treatment results for a specific patient is important for the clinician in order to address if therapeutic goals have been accomplished both in terms of statistical significance and clinical meaningfulness. The methodology based on the reliable change index (Jacobson y Truax)1 provides an estimate of these two criteria. The goal of this article is to propose a procedure to apply the methodology with a single case study of a woman diagnosed with major depression and treated with electroconvulsive therapy.