Goldsmith, Kimberley A, MacKinnon, David P, Chalder, Trudie et al. · Psychological methods · 2018 · DOI
This tutorial paper explains how researchers can better understand how treatments work by measuring patients multiple times throughout a study, rather than just at the beginning and end. It uses the PACE trial (a study about treatments for ME/CFS) as an example to teach researchers different statistical methods for analyzing whether a treatment works by changing something specific in a patient's body or behavior.
Understanding how treatments work—not just whether they work—is essential for improving ME/CFS care and developing better therapeutic approaches. This tutorial equips researchers with rigorous statistical methods to identify the actual mechanisms of benefit in clinical trials, which can guide treatment refinement and personalization for ME/CFS patients.
This is a methodological tutorial rather than an empirical study of treatment efficacy or mechanisms; it does not prove that any particular treatment for ME/CFS is effective or demonstrate what the true mechanisms of the PACE trial are. The simulated data used are illustrative examples and do not represent actual trial results or validate any specific treatment approach.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Goldsmith, Kimberley A, MacKinnon, David P, Chalder, Trudie, White, Peter D, Sharpe, Michael, & Pickles, Andrew (2018). Tutorial: The practical application of longitudinal structural equation mediation models in clinical trials.. Psychological methods. https://doi.org/10.1037/met0000154
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-goldsmith-2018-tutorial-practical,
author = {Goldsmith, Kimberley A and MacKinnon, David P and Chalder, Trudie and White, Peter D and Sharpe, Michael and Pickles, Andrew},
title = {Tutorial: The practical application of longitudinal structural equation mediation models in clinical trials.},
journal = {Psychological methods},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.1037/met0000154},
note = {PubMed: 29283590},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/goldsmith-2018-tutorial-practical},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/goldsmith-2018-tutorial-practical
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.