What type of study design is this?

[Batchild]

I apologise, the answer is probably fairly simple, but I am having a major mind block.


The study consisted of recording the sleep patterns of the patients in the NDU over a two-week period prior to the use of aromatherapy, and again following the introduction of aromatherapy. In all, data was gathered for 94 patient nights before aromatherapy and 94 patient nights afterwards. Data was gathered by a registered nurse at the end of each night shift. The data was entered onto a form which gave information on the oil used, route of administration, any night sedation given and whether the patient stated that they had had a restful night's sleep. Only patients who were present before and after the introduction of aromatherapy were included in the study. Each patient had data entered for the same number of nights both prior to, and after the introduction of aromatherapy. The method of administration of the oils was that each patient was given one drop of the blend on each of the top comers of the mattress when retiring for the night. This provided a safe method of inhalation as the oil did not come into contact with the patients' eyes or mouths. Where inhalation alone was not effective after one or two hours, a five minute hand massage using the blend of oils in a sweet almond carrier oil was employed. If the patient was still awake at midnight, and this was causing distress, prescribed night sedation was offered (Cannard 1995).
http://www.ctcpjournal.com/article/S1353-6117(96)80062-X/fulltext


I am thinking that it is a prospective co-hort study but there is no control group.?

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[libertyyne]

Sounds like an uncontro

I apologise, the answer is probably fairly simple, but I am having a major mind block.


The study consisted of recording the sleep patterns of the patients in the NDU over a two-week period prior to the use of aromatherapy, and again following the introduction of aromatherapy. In all, data was gathered for 94 patient nights before aromatherapy and 94 patient nights afterwards. Data was gathered by a registered nurse at the end of each night shift. The data was entered onto a form which gave information on the oil used, route of administration, any night sedation given and whether the patient stated that they had had a restful night's sleep. Only patients who were present before and after the introduction of aromatherapy were included in the study. Each patient had data entered for the same number of nights both prior to, and after the introduction of aromatherapy. The method of administration of the oils was that each patient was given one drop of the blend on each of the top comers of the mattress when retiring for the night. This provided a safe method of inhalation as the oil did not come into contact with the patients' eyes or mouths. Where inhalation alone was not effective after one or two hours, a five minute hand massage using the blend of oils in a sweet almond carrier oil was employed. If the patient was still awake at midnight, and this was causing distress, prescribed night sedation was offered (Cannard 1995).
http://www.ctcpjournal.com/article/S1353-6117(96)80062-X/fulltext


I am thinking that it is a prospective co-hort study but there is no control group.?

Sounds like an uncontrolled trial.

 

[flapjack3d]

I apologise, the answer is probably fairly simple, but I am having a major mind block.


The study consisted of recording the sleep patterns of the patients in the NDU over a two-week period prior to the use of aromatherapy, and again following the introduction of aromatherapy. In all, data was gathered for 94 patient nights before aromatherapy and 94 patient nights afterwards. Data was gathered by a registered nurse at the end of each night shift. The data was entered onto a form which gave information on the oil used, route of administration, any night sedation given and whether the patient stated that they had had a restful night's sleep. Only patients who were present before and after the introduction of aromatherapy were included in the study. Each patient had data entered for the same number of nights both prior to, and after the introduction of aromatherapy. The method of administration of the oils was that each patient was given one drop of the blend on each of the top comers of the mattress when retiring for the night. This provided a safe method of inhalation as the oil did not come into contact with the patients' eyes or mouths. Where inhalation alone was not effective after one or two hours, a five minute hand massage using the blend of oils in a sweet almond carrier oil was employed. If the patient was still awake at midnight, and this was causing distress, prescribed night sedation was offered (Cannard 1995).
http://www.ctcpjournal.com/article/S1353-6117(96)80062-X/fulltext


I am thinking that it is a prospective co-hort study but there is no control group.?

You could call it that

 

[CherryRedDracul]

Looks like a case-crossover study.

 

[gcuddles]

I apologise, the answer is probably fairly simple, but I am having a major mind block.
...
I am thinking that it is a prospective co-hort study but there is no control group.?

I would classify this as a prospective cohort with internal controls: the patient's sleep before induction of aromatherapy acts as a control to their sleep afterwards. Not great as far as controls go, since noise levels, ambient temperature, seasonal allergies, whatever, can alter sleep quality. You'll need to use a statistical test to account for this.

If you plan to go forward with this, I recommend doing randomized clinical control with maybe a more quantitative measure of sleep quality.

Looks like a case-crossover study.

If I understand the description of the test correctly, a case-crossover is like a case-control, but using the patients themselves as controls; it's still retrospective, whereas this study is prospective.

 

[Amygdarya]

Since the study is about an experimental intervention (aroma therapy) rather than an exposure it's going to be a trial rather than a prospective cohort study. It does have controls - patients before aroma therapy are their own controls; this kind of trial design is called crossover (though typically there are 2 groups, one treated and one untreated, which are switched in their treatment assignment after a "washout" period). So I'd call it a crossover trial.