NL
In 2021, Thomas Hoogeboom of the IQ Health department and an international group of scientists published the i-CONTENT scale. This scale was developed to assess the quality of exercise therapy interventions. Since the development of the first version of the i-CONTENT scale, it became clear that many exercise therapy interventions were of low quality, possibly negatively affecting the effectiveness of these interventions. The editor of the Journal of Geriatric Physical Therapy recently devoted an editorial to it and called on researchers to better invest in the quality of exercise therapy interventions.
This editorial explores the role of the i-CONTENT scale in assessing therapeutic validity in nonpharmacological intervention research. Two essential aspects, "methodological validity" and "therapeutic validity," are highlighted. The author describes that over the last few years there has been progress in methodological quality, however, this progress lags behind in therapeutic quality. She explicitly cites here the example of exercise programs, whose therapeutic quality is often surprisingly low. Systematic reviews, which include these studies, can thereby lead to misleading conclusions about the efficacy of exercise therapy.
The i-CONTENT tool, with 11 items that evaluate therapeutic quality, is introduced by the editor as a crucial tool. Not only for assessing existing research, but also for designing new studies. Researchers, systematic reviewers, and other editors are encouraged to use the i-CONTENT to ensure the quality of nonpharmacologic interventions and enhance the value of systematic reviews.
The authors of the i-CONTENT tool hope that with this editorial the first step has been taken for the further implementation of this tool within scientific journals in the field of exercise therapy, physical therapy, and rehabilitation. Unambiguous development, reporting and assessment of these types of complex interventions ultimately contribute to the realization of a healthy and meaningful evidence-base.
Read the editorial in the Journal of Geriatric Physical Therapy here: Editor's Message: Increasing Our Effectiveness Detective-nes... : Journal of Geriatric Physical Therapy (lww.com)
And read the article by Hoogeboom et al. here: Hoogeboom TJ, Kousemaker MC, van Meeteren NL, et al. i-CONTENT tool for assessing therapeutic quality of exercise programs employed in randomized clinical trials | British Journal of Sports Medicine (bmj.com)