Reporting on Interventions: Issues and Guidelines for Rehabilitation Researchers

Observers commonly note the poor reporting of research, including rehabilitation research. The Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) checklist (supplemented by the CONSORT extension for nonpharmacologic interventions) has been published for improving the reporting of intervention research. However, the items on these checklists are considered to be inadequate to guide authors as to which information to include when reporting on the intervention(s) studied, and the Template for Intervention Description and Replication, Journal Article Reporting Standards, and the checklist of the Western Journal of Nursing Research are recommended to rehabilitation researchers. The Rehabilitation Treatment Taxonomy framework is recommended as a conceptual scheme to assist authors in thinking through the linkages between intervention ingredients, targets of treatment, and the mechanisms of action linking these 2 areas. Recommendations are made for prospective authors and journal editors who desire to see improved reporting of rehabilitation interventions.