Investigating Treatment Mediators When Simple Random Assignment to a Control Group is Not Possible.
Abstract
As the study of psychological treatments begins to mature beyond questions of efficacy, investigators are focusing more on treatment mediators in an effort to aid revision and dissemination of existing treatments. Often, such studies are conducted without wait-list or no-treatment control groups. However, designs without a control group constrain the examination of treatment mediators and preclude statements about the overall effects of treatment. We review the limitations of treatment-treatment and single-treatment designs for studying mediation and suggest design modifications to strengthen future investigations. Specifically, we present the benefits and limitations of regression discontinuity and interrupted time series in testing mediation when ethical or organizational considerations preclude simple random assignment to a no-treatment condition.
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The results of such interventions are difficult to transfer to real-world psychotherapy and require sample sizes larger than typically used.
“the results of such interventions are difficult to transfer to real-world psychotherapy13 and require sample sizes larger than typically used.14”
From Quantifying the association between psychotherapy content and clinical outcomes using deep learning (2020) · cites this paper as [13]
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- Authors
- Doss, B. D., & Atkins, D. C.
- Affiliations
- Texas A&M University (US)
- Venue
- Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice
- Published
- 2006
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 321-336
- ISSN
- 0969-5893 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-2850
- OpenAlex
- W2012678513
- Cited by
- 24
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2023: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 2.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Clinical Psychology Science and Practice (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Advanced Causal Inference Techniques
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
- Keywords
- mediation analysis, regression discontinuity design, interrupted time series, waitlist control
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