PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Thomas J Hoogeboom
AU  - Martijn C Kousemaker
AU  - Nico LU van Meeteren
AU  - Tracey Howe
AU  - Kari Bo
AU  - Peter Tugwell
AU  - Manuela Ferreira
AU  - Rob A de Bie
AU  - Cornelia HM van den Ende
AU  - Jennifer E Stevens-Lapsley
TI  - i-CONTENT tool for assessing therapeutic quality of exercise programs employed in randomised clinical trials
AID  - 10.1136/bjsports-2019-101630
DP  - 2021 Oct 01
TA  - British Journal of Sports Medicine
PG  - 1153--1160
VI  - 55
IP  - 20
4099  - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/55/20/1153.short
4100  - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/55/20/1153.full
SO  - Br J Sports Med2021 Oct 01; 55
AB  - Objective When appraising the quality of randomised clinical trial (RCTs) on the merits of exercise therapy, we typically limit our assessment to the quality of the methods. However, heterogeneity across studies can also be caused by differences in the quality of the exercise interventions (ie, ‘the potential effectiveness of a specific intervention given the potential target group of patients’)—a challenging concept to assess. We propose an internationally developed, consensus-based tool that aims to assess the quality of exercise therapy programmes studied in RCTs: the international Consensus on Therapeutic Exercise aNd Training (i-CONTENT) tool.Methods Forty-nine experts (from 12 different countries) in the field of physical and exercise therapy participated in a four-stage Delphi approach to develop the i-CONTENT tool: (1) item generation (Delphi round 1), (2) item selection (Delphi rounds 2 and 3), (3) item specification (focus group discussion) and (4) tool development and refinement (working group discussion and piloting).Results Out of the 61 items generated in the first Delphi round, consensus was reached on 17 items, resulting in seven final items that form the i-CONTENT tool: (1) patient selection; (2) qualified supervisor; (3) type and timing of outcome assessment; (4) dosage parameters (frequency, intensity, time); (5) type of exercise; (6) safety of the exercise programme and (7) adherence to the exercise programme.Conclusion The i-CONTENT-tool is a step towards transparent assessment of the quality of exercise therapy programmes studied in RCTs, and ultimately, towards the development of future, higher quality, exercise interventions.All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as online supplemental information.