Intervention fidelity in Qigong randomized controlled trials: A method review

Abstract

Intervention fidelity has important implications for the reliability and validity of a study. Despite the widely reported health benefits of Qigong exercise interventions, the quality of intervention fidelity is less clear. The purpose of this paper is to use a valid intervention fidelity assessment tool to evaluate how intervention fidelity has been addressed in five areas—design, training, delivery, receipt, and enactment—in Qigong randomized controlled studies. A total of 86 articles were drawn from CINAHL, PubMed, AMED, and Scopus, and 32 were selected for the review. The adherence to intervention fidelity strategies within the intervention design, training, delivery, receipt, and enactment was 0.66, 0.32, 0.22, 0.12, and 0.21, respectively. The findings suggest that intervention fidelity is inadequately implemented or reported in published Qigong studies. Developing a consistent intervention fidelity plan for Qigong interventions is needed. To this aim, we propose a treatment fidelity plan specific to Qigong research.