The role of single case experimental designs in evidence creation in rehabilitation.
Wendy Machalicek, Douglas P Gross, Susan Armijo-Olivo, Giorgio Ferriero, Carlotte Kiekens, Rachelle Martin, Margaret Walshe, Stefano Negrini
PMID 39374052WHAT IT FOUND
This paper reviews the methodology of single-case experimental designs in rehabilitation.
It offers no new clinical evidence or patient outcomes, so there is nothing here to change practice on.
What this paper is
This paper is a methodological review and consensus statement from the Cochrane Rehabilitation Methodological Meeting. It describes the logic, strengths, and limitations of Single-Case Experimental Designs (SCEDs) and N-of-1 trials, and offers recommendations for their rigorous conduct and reporting. It reports no new patient data, no intervention effects, and no clinical outcomes, so there are no findings here to change practice on.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The study was funded by the Italian Ministry of Health, which had no role in the design, analysis, or writing of the manuscript.