Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Depressive Symptoms in Persons of African Descent: A Meta-Analysis

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a well-researched psychotherapeutic intervention shown to be effective in treating depression. Currently there is no synthesized quantitative research pertaining to the overall effect of CBT in reducing depression symptoms in adult persons of African descent. The present study evaluates the magnitude of effect of CBT in persons of African descent with depressive symptoms. A random effects model meta-analysis, with a Hedges's g effect size statistic, was used to obtain a summary effect. Heterogeneity, subgroup analyses, and publication bias were also examined. The meta-analysis showed that CBT was associated with a significant decrease in depressive symptoms among persons of African descent. The meta-analysis was heterogeneous, and subgroup analyses regarding research design and gender did not explain the reason for the heterogeneity. The medium, statistically significant summary effect in this meta-analysis is fairly similar to outcomes of other meta-analyses examining CBT for depression that were not limited to people of African descent. Future research pertaining to the effect of CBT on depressive symptoms of persons of African descent should include adequately powered, experimental, primary studies that measure fidelity and ultimately meta-analytic research that uses metaregression to evaluate the relationship between fidelity and depressive symptoms.