In addition to the investigation of the overall effect of the intervention, the stepped-wedge design allows us to study the effects of the duration of the intervention on outcome measures [ 39].
The study will inform an intervention, following the steps of the Medical Research Council guidance on developing complex interventions.
In attempting to control the costs of delivering psychological interventions, the stepped care approach has been strongly advocated as being potentially cost-effective [ 28].
There is no documented evidence of adverse events arising due to either the minimal intervention or the stepped care intervention.
But it is telling that in describing the contents of his report, Early Intervention: The Next Steps, Allen is at such pains to underscore how his proposals will fund themselves, costing the government nothing.
In order to select appropriate methods for changing environmental conditions in a health intervention, the first step is to find out who may be in a position to make the expected change to identify the desired behaviors for the agent.
If psychological distress persists after the self-help intervention, the second step of the program is executed, i.e. a diagnostic evaluation and a standardized interview, yielding a problem analysis.
A second strength of the intervention is the stepped care approach.
12 of 15 eligible LTC facilities were randomly selected to participate and randomized to start date of the intervention following the stepped wedge design.
In addition, since studies reporting on the cost-effectiveness of stress-management interventions by means of cost-utility analysis (CUA) are scarce, the interventions in the stepped-care approach will be evaluated using CUA.
