Hernandez Hernandez, M.E., Waller, G. orcid.org/0000-0001-7794-9546 and Hardy, G. (2020) Cultural adaptations of cognitive behavioural therapy for Latin American patients: unexpected findings from a systematic review. The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist, 13. e57. ISSN 1754-470X
Abstract
The current literature extensively recommends making cultural adaptations to psychological therapies, in order to address the differences in values, beliefs and attitudes that patients from different ethnic groups might hold. Although this approach has shown positive outcomes in some settings, it is not well established yet whether such adaptations are needed for all therapies and in all cultures. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to systematically review the literature regarding culturally adapted and ‘conventional’ cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for Latin American patients, within Latin American and non-Latin American countries. Sixty empirical studies regarding the effectiveness of culturally adapted and conventional CBT were included in this review. The included studies were carried out in Latin American and non-Latin American countries. The information from all studies was synthesized and assessed, including intervention effect sizes, patient retention rates, methodological quality of the papers, and the type of cultural adaptation made to the therapy. There were no differences between the sets of studies in terms of effectiveness, retention rates, methodological quality, or proportion of statistically significant interventions. Most of the cultural adaptations were peripheral or unspecified. The evidence to date indicates that both conventional and culturally adapted CBT offer the same benefits for Latin American patients in terms of effectiveness and retention rates. Rather than focusing on cultural adaptations, clinicians are encouraged to improve the way they deliver CBT through training and supervision.
Key learning aims
(1) Cultural adaptations of CBT do not seem to offer any significant benefits to conventional, non-adapted CBT in Latin American patients.
(2) Most of the adaptations made to CBT for Latin American patients are either peripheral or not disclosed.
(3) We discuss the implications of adapting CBT for Latin American patients when there is no apparent need to do so.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2020. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
Keywords: | cognitive behavioural therapy; cultural adaptations; Latin America; systematic review |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 05 Jan 2021 09:52 |
Last Modified: | 05 Jan 2021 09:52 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1017/s1754470x20000574 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:169528 |