Commentary

Excerpt

I commend Dr McEwen for her undertaking a type of clinical research that is vital for investigation of treatment outcome not only for individuals with severe neuromotor disabilities but also for those with other conditions that require physical therapy. The preliminary nature of the study limits generalization of the results. This is typical of initial attempts to examine an intervention provided in a natural setting in which there is a small heterogeneous sample and minimal knowledge of the expected treatment effect or the responsiveness of the dependent measures. Rather than focus on the specifics of the study, I have chosen to comment more generally on three aspects of the design that I believe are important to consider in conducting treatment outcome research.

A distinguishing feature of Dr McEwen's study is that it has ecological validity.…