A moderator of treatment is a pretreatment or baseline variable that identifies subgroups of patients within the population who have different effect sizes. 8, 9 Possible moderators might include sex, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, initial severity, genotype, biomarkers, or the subtype of the disorder under investigation.
What are moderators of outcome?
Moderators of outcome involve factors (clinical or biologic), the presence or magnitude of which at baseline (immediately before treatment is initiated) influences the relativelikelihood of a particular outcome occurring following treatment with one versus another agent.
What is the difference between a moderator and a mediator?
Conceptually, moderators identify on whom and under what circumstances treatments have different effects. Mediators identify why and how treatments have effects. We describe an analytic framework to identify and distinguish between moderators and mediators in RCTs when outcomes are measured dimensionally.
What do randomized clinical trials tell us about moderators and mediators?
Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) not only are the gold standard for evaluating the efficacy and effectiveness of psychiatric treatments but also can be valuable in revealing moderators and mediators of therapeutic change. Conceptually, moderators identify on whom and under what circumstances treatments have different effects.
What does a moderator do on a forum?
In these forums, moderators are tasked with enforcing community guidelines and have the authority to block messages that are deemed inappropriate. Moderators are responsible for keeping users on topic and keep the group or discussion thread free of personal insults and derogatory comments.
What is a treatment mediator?
Treatment mediators identify possible mechanisms through which a treatment might achieve its effects. These mechanisms are causal links between treatment and outcome.
Can a mediator moderate considering the role of time and change in the mediator moderator distinction?
Change in the mediator, which by definition occurs after the predictor in time, cannot possibly alter or moderate one's response to the original predictor.
What is the difference between a mediator and a moderator?
What's the difference between a mediator and a moderator? A mediator variable explains the process through which two variables are related, while a moderator variable affects the strength and direction of that relationship.
Can a moderator become a mediator?
No, mediation and moderation are different concepts. Moderation makes the relationship stronger or weaker. There might be relationship between dependent and independent variables even in the absence of moderator variable. In case of mediation, the presence of mediator is a must.
Edited by Jonathan S. Comer and Philip C. Kendall
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.
Abstract and Keywords
This chapter outlines methods for identifying the mediating mechanisms by which treatments achieve effects and moderators of these effects. Mediating variables are variables that transmit a treatment effect to an outcome variable.
What is a moderator in statistics?
A moderator is a variable that affects the strength of the relation between the predictor and criterion variable. Moderators specify when a relation will hold. It can be qualitative (e.g., sex, race, class…) or quantitative (e.g., drug dosage or level of reward). Moderating variable are typically an interaction term in statistical models.
What is a moderator in a predictor?
A moderator is a variable that affects the strength of the relation between the predictor and criterion variable.
What is a mediator variable?
A mediating variable explains the relation between the independent (predictor) and the dependent (criterion) variable. It explains how or why there is a relation between two variables. A mediator can be a potential mechanism by which an independent variable can produce changes on a dependent variable. When you fully account for the effect of the ...
Is social support a moderating variable?
Someone who experiences a lot of stress, but has good social support, will show better outcomes (fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety, fatigue...) than someone with low social support. Social support is the moderating variable. These examples should clarify the difference between mediating and moderating variables.
What is a moderator in a forum?
April 17, 2008. Updated on: June 23, 2021. A moderator is a user who presides over an online forum discussion. In these forums, moderators are tasked with enforcing community guidelines and have the authority to block messages that are deemed inappropriate. Moderators are responsible for keeping users on topic and keep the group or discussion ...
What platforms use moderators?
Platforms that use both moderators and administrators include Facebook, Reddit, and Slashdot. Vangie Beal. Vangie Beal is a freelance business and technology writer covering Internet technologies and online business since the late '90s.
Can a moderator be an administrator?
In a discussion forum or group, an administrator can function as a moderator, but a moderator cannot perform all of the same functions as an administrator. Administrators have more access permissions, so they can control which users have access to the group as well as which posts are aligned with the community guidelines.
Moderator Career Path
Learn how to become a Moderator, what skills and education you need to succeed, and what level of pay to expect at each step on your career path.
Moderator Insights
Read what Moderator professionals have to say about their job experiences and view top companies for this career.
What is a moderator in clinical trials?
A moderator relationship is established when there is a significant (and clinically meaningful) interaction between the moderator variable and the independent variable of treatment condition on the outcome of interest. For example, it is conceivable that behavioral treatments for ADHD fare better with middle class as opposed to lower class families; if such is the case, SES would be a moderator of outcome.
When are moderator and mediator concepts applied to treatment studies?
In a groundbreaking article, Kraemer et al 9 explained that when the moderator and mediator concepts are applied to treatment studies, several additional guidelines are required. In other words, because both moderator and mediator processes involve the detection of statistical interactions, further conceptual distinctions are needed to avoid confusion. 3,9
What are mediator variables?
Mediator variables signify processes occurring during treatment that explain how and why the intervention is exerting its effects. Certain mediators, in fact, may serve as underlying mechanisms of change, those processes that are causally responsible for bringing about improvements in outcome.
Does ADHD have a moderator?
Until relatively recently, very little treatment research on ADHD has been able to provide tests of moderator and mediator variables, largely because of the relatively small size of treatment samples and the lack of knowledge of how to design trials that could optimize conceptual yield. 3,21 Furthermore, the few studies that have attempted to link process with outcome (for example, alterations in family discipline style linked to child improvement) have typically examined change in the alleged mediator process and change in the outcome variables but without explicit tests of mediation—that is, without probing whether alterations in the former domain actually explain improvements in the outcome. 3
