PPD provided direction and oversight regarding all aspects of study design and interpretation of results.
PPD and JMO'B provided direction and oversight regarding all aspects of study design and interpretation of results.
The FedTex and RepDose data were selected from the available literature based on the level of detail regarding, for example, description of study design and details given for results.
Limitations were applied with regards to restrictions in type of study design and type of participants as described above, as well as to studies on stigma related to physical health conditions or interventions aiming to reduce drug use (e.g. smoking cessation) unless they provided a quantitative measure on stigma related to drug use and didn't target healthcare providers.
Using data out of context of study design and without regard to reliability and sound interpretation result in improper characterization of the issue and misdirection for future research.
However, a more detailed discussion about general aspects regarding the design of clinical studies and the influence of study design on outcome assessment is beyond the scope of this paper and will be provided in a separate publication.
A descriptive analysis was conducted as the included studies were significantly heterogeneous with regards to study design, intervention, characteristics of participants and outcome measures (e.g. postural sway parameters and experimental procedures), which prevented any pooling of data.
We therefore have focused this review on questions about effects, recognising that there are parallel questions regarding what types of study designs should be used to address other questions.
For the design of future quantitative HOS in this field, researchers should be aware of the specific requirements of QRA to HOS with regard to study design and reporting of results.
They vary considerably with regard to study design, number of subjects, study duration, and in terms of the saline solutions used, mode of application, and the parameters assessed.
