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Ten Ways to Improve the Use of Statistical Mediation Analysis in the Practice of Child and Adolescent Treatment Research

Despite guidelines and repeated calls from the literature, statistical mediation analysis in youth treatment outcome research is rare. Even more concerning is that many studies that have reported mediation analyses do not fulfill basic requirements for mediation analysis, providing inconclusive data...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Maric, Marija, Wiers, Reinout W., Prins, Pier J. M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer US 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3416975/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22418896
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10567-012-0114-y
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author Maric, Marija
Wiers, Reinout W.
Prins, Pier J. M.
author_facet Maric, Marija
Wiers, Reinout W.
Prins, Pier J. M.
author_sort Maric, Marija
collection PubMed
description Despite guidelines and repeated calls from the literature, statistical mediation analysis in youth treatment outcome research is rare. Even more concerning is that many studies that have reported mediation analyses do not fulfill basic requirements for mediation analysis, providing inconclusive data and clinical implications. As a result, after more than five decades of research, it is still largely unknown through which processes youth treatment works and what the effective treatment components are. In this article, we present ten ways in which the use of statistical mediation analysis in youth treatment outcome research may be improved. These ten ways are related both to conceptual and methodological issues. In discussing how youth clinical researchers may optimally implement these directions, we argue that studies should employ the strongest research designs possible. In so doing, we describe different levels of a mediation evidence ladder. Studies on each step of the ladder contribute to an understanding of mediation processes, but the strongest evidence for mediation is provided by studies that can be classified at the highest level. With the help of the ladder of mediation evidence, results from youth mediation treatment outcome research can be evaluated on their scientific as well as clinical impact.
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spelling pubmed-34169752012-08-16 Ten Ways to Improve the Use of Statistical Mediation Analysis in the Practice of Child and Adolescent Treatment Research Maric, Marija Wiers, Reinout W. Prins, Pier J. M. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev Article Despite guidelines and repeated calls from the literature, statistical mediation analysis in youth treatment outcome research is rare. Even more concerning is that many studies that have reported mediation analyses do not fulfill basic requirements for mediation analysis, providing inconclusive data and clinical implications. As a result, after more than five decades of research, it is still largely unknown through which processes youth treatment works and what the effective treatment components are. In this article, we present ten ways in which the use of statistical mediation analysis in youth treatment outcome research may be improved. These ten ways are related both to conceptual and methodological issues. In discussing how youth clinical researchers may optimally implement these directions, we argue that studies should employ the strongest research designs possible. In so doing, we describe different levels of a mediation evidence ladder. Studies on each step of the ladder contribute to an understanding of mediation processes, but the strongest evidence for mediation is provided by studies that can be classified at the highest level. With the help of the ladder of mediation evidence, results from youth mediation treatment outcome research can be evaluated on their scientific as well as clinical impact. Springer US 2012-03-15 2012 /pmc/articles/PMC3416975/ /pubmed/22418896 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10567-012-0114-y Text en © The Author(s) 2012 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.
spellingShingle Article
Maric, Marija
Wiers, Reinout W.
Prins, Pier J. M.
Ten Ways to Improve the Use of Statistical Mediation Analysis in the Practice of Child and Adolescent Treatment Research
title Ten Ways to Improve the Use of Statistical Mediation Analysis in the Practice of Child and Adolescent Treatment Research
title_full Ten Ways to Improve the Use of Statistical Mediation Analysis in the Practice of Child and Adolescent Treatment Research
title_fullStr Ten Ways to Improve the Use of Statistical Mediation Analysis in the Practice of Child and Adolescent Treatment Research
title_full_unstemmed Ten Ways to Improve the Use of Statistical Mediation Analysis in the Practice of Child and Adolescent Treatment Research
title_short Ten Ways to Improve the Use of Statistical Mediation Analysis in the Practice of Child and Adolescent Treatment Research
title_sort ten ways to improve the use of statistical mediation analysis in the practice of child and adolescent treatment research
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3416975/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22418896
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10567-012-0114-y
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