Community Intervention Trials

Abstract

Abstract Few research approaches have dominated the landscape of epidemiologic investigation as have intervention trial methods. Over the past four decades, numerous refinements have been made to the methods used to define the efficacy of public health and clinical strategies, from drugs to behavioral interventions. In contrast to observational methods, intervention studies or trials strive to demonstrate, to the extent possible, causal associations between the public health strategy and the health outcome under investigation. Community intervention trials aim to measure the feasibility, efficacy, or effectiveness of a putative public health strategy, beyond the confines of clinical facilities, in the free‐living populations where these strategies are likely to be implemented. The evidence generated by robust, rigorous, sometimes randomized, controlled community intervention trials often serves as the basis for the design and implementation of public health programs.