Citation

Miller J, Dawud B, Linder H, Willis S, Babington-Johnson A. Community Ment. Health J. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10597-020-00738-w

PMID

33128097

Abstract

This study measured changes in post-traumatic stress symptoms and collective-efficacy in African Americans participating in cohorts of "Choosing Life in the Black Community: Achieving the Dream", an Afrocentricity-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy curriculum for trauma. Participants were recruited by key leaders in the black community of the Twin Cities, Minnesota Metropolitan Area and completed a 6-week group counselling curriculum led by lay health workers and supervised by professional psychologists. Twenty-six participants provided pre- and post-curriculum responses to validated measures of post-traumatic stress symptoms, collective-efficacy and adverse childhood experiences. Thirteen participants provided semi-structured interviews. Pre- to post-curriculum change score were calculated for post-traumatic stress symptoms and collective-efficacy. Interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Post-traumatic stress symptoms decreased and collective-efficacy increased, though neither change achieved statistical significance. Participants with more adverse childhood experiences showed significantly greater decreases in post-traumatic stress symptoms. There is evidence that this program may be particularly effective in participants that have greater past experiences of trauma.

Language: en

Keywords

Traumatic stress; African American; Community based therapy; Group therapy