How to develop causal directed acyclic graphs for observational health research: a scoping review.

ABSTRACT: Causal directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) serve as intuitive tools to visually represent causal relationships between variables. While they find widespread use in guiding study design, data collection and statistical analysis, their adoption remains relatively rare in the domain of psychology. In this paper we describe the relevance of DAGs for health psychology, review guidelines for developing causal DAGs, and offer recommendations for their development. A scoping review searching for papers and resources describing guidelines for DAG development was conducted. Information extracted from the eligible papers and resources (n = 11) was categorised, and results were used to formulate recommendations. Most records focused on DAG development for data analysis, with similar steps outlined.

SUBMITTER: Poppe L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11875439 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature