To the Editor: The randomised controlled trial recently reported by Blashki and colleagues does not support their hypothesis.1 The drop-out rates in both arms of the trial were very high — only 62% of general practitioners in the intervention group and 54% in the control group completed the trial. One cannot have any confidence in their conclusion that a short training course can improve GP skills in the provision of cognitive behavioural strategies (CBS). For example, what if the 38% of GPs in the intervention group who dropped out actually deteriorated in their CBS skills and therefore declined to be videotaped?
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- Rural and Indigenous Health, Australian National University Medical School, Canberra, ACT.
Correspondence: marjan.kljakovic@anu.edu.au
- 1. Blashki GA, Piterman L, Meadows GN, et al. Impact of an educational intervention on general practitioners’ skills in cognitive behavioural strategies: a randomised controlled trial. Med J Aust 2008; 188 (12 Suppl): S129-S132. <eMJA full text> <MJA full text>
- 2. Christensen H, Griffiths KM, Gulliver A, et al. Models in the delivery of depression care: a systematic review of randomised and controlled intervention trials. BMC Fam Pract 2008; 9: 25.
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