ABSTRACT
Answering the question `Does CP work?' is like answering the query `Do drugs work?'. Reply to the latter depends, among others, on the medication and how it is given, the problem it is intended to help, and the outcome measure and when it is measured. Similarly, answers about the ef®cacy of CP depend, among others, on the particular CP system used, where and for what it is used and with what human screening and support, and the outcome measures and when they are rated. The present review dealt separately with different clinical problems. Results from the literature about the clinical effectiveness of CP are encouraging but not uniformly conclusive because of the variability of participants, settings, modes of delivery, comparators and outcome measures across different studies. In addition, many questions about how to implement CP in everyday clinical practice have yet to be answered de®nitively, e.g. patient preferences, how best to support CP users, and the cost implications of various implementation models. This literature review found that:
1 Screening before allowing access to CP was by net, phone or face-toface interview with a clinician mostly using tools for diagnosis rather for CP suitability per se.
