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This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2008.134767v1 99/9/1567    most recent Submit a response View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Amico, K. R. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Amico, K. R. Related Collections Health Promotion Other Statistics/Evaluation/Research Writing/Reviewing/Publishing

K. Rivet Amico, PhD

K. Rivet Amico is with the Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs.

Correspondence: Correspondence should be sent to K. Pivet Amico, PhD, Department of Psychology, 2006 Hillside Rd, Unit 1248, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-1248 (e-mail: rivetamico{at}comcast.net). Reprints can be ordered at http://www.ajph.org by clicking the "Reprints/Eprints" link.

Health behavior interventions delivered at point of service include those that yoke an intervention protocol with existing systems of care (e.g., clinical care, social work, or case management). Though beneficial in a number of ways, such "hosted" intervention studies may be unable to retain participants that specifically discontinue their use of the hosting service.

In light of recent practices that use percent total attrition as indicative of methodological flaws, hosted interventions targeting hard-to-reach populations may be excluded from consideration in effective intervention compendiums or research synthesis because of high attrition rates that may in fact be secondary to the natural flow of service use or unrelated to differential attrition or internal design flaws. Better methods to characterize rigor are needed.