AN APPLIED RESEARCH DESIGN USING SINGLE-SUBJECT STRATEGIES TO EVALUATE BEHAVIORAL TREATMENTS FOR ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION

Abstract

This research project utilized single-subject methodology to compare four treatment modalities against each other and a control group (N = 5) in the control of mild essential hypertension. The treatment modalities were non-specific, modified autogenic relaxation, diastolic blood pressure feedback, and a combination of the latter two therapies. Only persons who received the modified autogenic relaxation therapy as a separate treatment were able to decrease their observed mean median diastolic blood pressure by an amount that would be consistently evaluated by physicians as clinically significant. A secondary finding was that, in the case of multiple treatments, a sequence of distinct biofeedback followed by distinct relaxation would be preferred over other possible combinations of the therapies investigated. Suggestions as to further research in the realms of direct, systematic, and clinical N = 1 replications as well as group comparison procedures were offered.