Patients (n=267) were enrolled from 16 centers, and asked to keep a headache diary for one month (phase I).
The Plan-Do-Check-Adjust cycle was studied during four one-month phases, separated by five-month interphases.
Also, repeated one-month phases could allow for implementing the study effect (Hawthorne effect) into a routine process which was part of the quality-improvement project [ 32].
The study design comprised a one month run-in phase followed by a main phase lasting six months.
In phase 2 (n = 399), and approximately one month later in phase 3 (n = 374), female high school physical education (PE) students completed a series of questionnaires that included the PAthR instrument.
The extensions were of one, two or three months, of either the intensive (one month) or continuation phase (maximum three months).
While ecological barriers isolate adult populations, the Pacific leaping blenny has a roughly one month pelagic larval phase (Platt and Ord, unpublished data).
Taking into account missing data and the rate of empty rooms in the ICU at a given time, this meant enrolling consecutive patients hospitalized in the ICU within one month for every phase.
Only patients who had completed the intensive phase of treatment (generally 2 months) and one month of the continuation phase of treatment were included, to ensure a wide coverage of costs.
Of the 58 patients included, 35 patients were responders after one month of active rTMS (phase I), and 17 patients were randomized for the maintenance sessions (phase II).
Each survey consists of two phases, with the most basic examinations performed in phase 1 and after one month more extensive examinations performed in phase 2 in a random sub-sample of the cohort.
