Semiparametric causal mediation analysis of cluster-randomized trials for indirect and spillover effects
集群随机试验中间接效应与溢出效应的半参数因果中介分析
In cluster-randomized trials (CRTs), there is emerging interest in exploring the causal mechanism in which a cluster-level treatment affects the outcome through an intermediate outcome. The majority of existing causal mediation methods are applicable to independent data and only a few exceptions have considered assessing causal mediation in CRTs, all of which heavily depend on parametric assumptions. In this article, we develop a formal semiparametric efficiency theory to…