College of Education, Criminal Justice, Human Services and Information Technology, University of Cincinnati.
College of Education, Criminal Justice, Human Services and Information Technology, Western Michigan University.
Multivariate Behav Res. 2021 May-Jun;56(3):496-513. doi: 10.1080/00273171.2020.1738910. Epub 2020 Apr 15.
Mediation analyses supply a principal lens to probe the pathways through which a treatment acts upon an outcome because they can dismantle and test the core components of treatments and test how these components function as a coordinated system or theory of action. Experimental evaluation of mediation effects in addition to total effects has become increasingly common but literature has developed only limited guidance on how to plan mediation studies with multi-tiered hierarchical or clustered structures. In this study, we provide methods for computing the power to detect mediation effects in three-level cluster-randomized designs that examine individual- (level one), intermediate- (level two) or cluster-level (level three) mediators. We assess the methods using a simulation and provide examples of a three-level clinic-randomized study (individuals nested within therapists nested within clinics) probing an individual-, intermediate- or cluster-level mediator using the package and its application.
中介分析提供了一个主要的视角来探究治疗作用于结果的途径,因为它们可以分解和测试治疗的核心组成部分,并检验这些组成部分如何作为一个协调的系统或作用理论发挥作用。除了总效应之外,对中介效应的实验评估变得越来越普遍,但文献对于如何用多层次的层次或聚类结构来计划中介研究提供的指导非常有限。在这项研究中,我们提供了计算在检验个体水平(一级)、中间水平(二级)或聚类水平(三级)中介的三级聚类随机设计中检测中介效应的功效的方法。我们使用模拟来评估这些方法,并提供了一个三级诊所随机研究(个体嵌套在治疗师嵌套在诊所中)的例子,使用 和它的 应用程序来探测个体、中间或聚类水平的中介。