Completeness of Reporting and Intervention Description in Articles on Psychological Interventions for Pediatric Patients with Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Meta-Research Study
Highlights
- Reporting of psychological interventions for scoliosis is frequently incomplete.
- Most studies failed to fully describe critical intervention elements.
- General reporting quality was poor in psychological intervention randomized trials.
- Reporting quality in observational studies was inconsistent or insufficient.
- Standardized guidelines are needed for transparency in the research field of scoliosis.
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Design
2.2. Identification of Studies
2.3. Participants
2.4. Variables
2.5. Data Sources
2.6. Statistical Methods
3. Results
3.1. Completeness of Intervention Descriptions in the Published Articles
3.2. Overall Reporting Completeness According to Relevant EQUATOR Guidelines
3.2.1. Adherence to CONSORT Checklist
3.2.2. Adherence to STROBE Checklist
3.2.3. Adherence to TREND Checklist
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
| AIS | Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis |
| EQUATOR | Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research |
| TIDieR | Template for Intervention Description and Replication |
| CONSORT | Consolidated Standards Of Reporting Trials |
| STROBE | STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology |
| TREND | Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Nonrandomized Designs |
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| TIDieR Item | TIDieR Analysis of Published Articles (N = 18) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | No | Unclear | |
| Item 1—Brief name | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| Item 2—Why | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| Item 3—What materials | 10 | 2 | 6 |
| Item 4—What methods | 14 | 1 | 3 |
| Item 5—Who provided | 6 | 5 | 7 |
| Item 6—How | 8 | 6 | 4 |
| Item 7—Where | 3 | 10 | 5 |
| Item 8—When and how much | 11 | 2 | 5 |
| Item 9—Tailoring | 3 | 1 | 14 non-applicable |
| Item 10—Modifications | 1 | 0 | 17 non-applicable |
| Item 11—How well-planned | 1 | 1 | 16 non-applicable |
| Item 12— How well-actual | 1 | 1 | 16 non-applicable |
| CONSORT Item | n/N |
|---|---|
| 1a. Identification as a randomized trial in the title | 3/8 |
| 1b. Structured summary of trial design, methods, results, and conclusions | 5/8 |
| 3a. Description of trial design (such as parallel, factorial) including allocation ratio | 1/8 |
| 4b. Settings and locations where the data were collected | 5/8 |
| 7a. How sample size was determined | 3/8 |
| 8b. Type of randomization; details of any restriction (such as blocking and block size) | 1/8 |
| 9. Mechanism used to implement the random allocation sequence | 2/8 |
| 10. Who generated the random allocation sequence, who enrolled participants, and who assigned participants to interventions | 1/8 |
| 11a. If done, who was blinded after assignment to interventions (for example, participants, care providers, those assessing outcomes) and how | 1/8 |
| 13b. For each group, losses and exclusions after randomization, together with reasons | 5/8 |
| 14a. Dates defining the periods of recruitment and follow-up | 3/8 |
| 15. A table showing baseline demographic and clinical characteristics for each group | 4/8 |
| 16. For each group, number of participants (denominator) included in each analysis and whether the analysis was by original assigned groups | 3/8 |
| 21. Generalizability (external validity, applicability) of the trial findings | 2/8 |
| 23. Registration number and name of trial registry | 1/8 |
| 24. Where the full trial protocol can be accessed, if available | 1/8 |
| 25. Sources of funding and other support (such as supply of drugs), role of funders | 5/8 |
| STROBE Item | n/N |
|---|---|
| 4. Present key elements of study design early in the paper | 3/5 |
| 5. Describe the setting, locations, and relevant dates, including periods of recruitment, exposure, follow-up, and data collection | 3/5 |
| 6a. Give eligibility criteria, sources and methods of selection, and follow-up methods | 3/5 |
| 8. For each variable of interest, give sources of data and details of methods of assessment (measurement). Describe comparability of assessment methods if there is more than one group | 1/5 |
| 9. Describe any efforts to address potential sources of bias | 2/5 |
| 10. Explain how the study size was arrived at | 1/5 |
| 12c. Explain how missing data were addressed | 0/5 |
| 12d. If applicable, explain how loss to follow-up was addressed | 2/5 |
| 13a. Report numbers of individuals at each stage of study—e.g., numbers potentially eligible, examined for eligibility, confirmed eligible, included in the study, completing follow-up, and analyzed | 1/5 |
| 13b. Give reasons for non-participation at each stage | 2/5 |
| 13c. Consider use of a flow diagram | 1/5 |
| 14b. Indicate number of participants with missing data for each variable of interest | 0/5 |
| 16a. Give unadjusted estimates and, if applicable, confounder-adjusted estimates and their precision (e.g., 95% confidence interval). Make clear which confounders were adjusted for and why they were included | 2/5 |
| 16b. Report category boundaries when continuous variables were categorized | 0/5 |
| 21. Discuss the generalizability (external validity) of the study results | 3/5 |
| 22. Give the source of funding and the role of the funders for the present study and, if applicable, for the original study on which the present article is based | 3/5 |
| TREND Items | n/N |
|---|---|
| 3. Participants | 0/5 (all partial) |
| 7. Sample size | 0/5 |
| 9. Blinding | 0/5 |
| 12. Participant flow | 0/5 (all partial) |
| 13. Recruitment | 3/5 |
| 14. Baseline data | 0/5 (all partial) |
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Kaliterna, P.; Žuljević, M.F.; Marušić, A.; Buljan, I. Completeness of Reporting and Intervention Description in Articles on Psychological Interventions for Pediatric Patients with Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Meta-Research Study. Healthcare 2025, 13, 2872. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13222872
Kaliterna P, Žuljević MF, Marušić A, Buljan I. Completeness of Reporting and Intervention Description in Articles on Psychological Interventions for Pediatric Patients with Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Meta-Research Study. Healthcare. 2025; 13(22):2872. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13222872
Chicago/Turabian StyleKaliterna, Petar, Marija Franka Žuljević, Ana Marušić, and Ivan Buljan. 2025. "Completeness of Reporting and Intervention Description in Articles on Psychological Interventions for Pediatric Patients with Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Meta-Research Study" Healthcare 13, no. 22: 2872. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13222872
APA StyleKaliterna, P., Žuljević, M. F., Marušić, A., & Buljan, I. (2025). Completeness of Reporting and Intervention Description in Articles on Psychological Interventions for Pediatric Patients with Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Meta-Research Study. Healthcare, 13(22), 2872. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13222872

