A systematic review of depression psychotherapies among Latinos.
For decades, the literature has reported persistent treatment disparities among depressed Latinos. Fortunately, treatment development and evaluation in this underserved population has expanded in recent years. This review summarizes outcomes across 36 unique depression treatment studies that reported treatment outcomes for Latinos. Results indicated that there was significant variability in the quality of RCT and type/number of cultural adaptations. The review suggested that there might a relation between cultural adaptations with treatment outcomes; future studies are warranted to confirm this association. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy was the most evaluated treatment (CBT; n=18, 50% of all evaluations), followed by Problem Solving Therapy (PST; n=4), Interpersonal Therapy (IPT; n=4), and Behavioral Activation (BA; n=3). CBT seems to fare better when compared to usual care, but not when compared to a contact-time matched control condition or active treatment. There is growing support for PST and IPT as efficacious depression interventions among Latinos. IPT shows particularly positive results for perinatal depression. BA warrants additional examination in RCT. Although scarce, telephone and in-home counseling have shown efficacy in reducing depression and increasing retention. Promotora-assisted trials require formal assessment. Limitations and future directions of the depression psychotherapy research among Latinos are discussed.
Emory University, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 12 Executive Park Drive NE, suite 300, Atlanta, GA 30329, United States. Electronic address: anahi.collado@emory.edu.
Anahí
A
Collado
University of California - Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, 1285 Franz Hall, Box 951563, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States. Electronic address: aaron.c.lim@gmail.com.
Aaron C
AC
Lim
University of Maryland - College Park, Department of Psychology, 2103 Cole Activities Fieldhouse, College Park, MD 20742, United States. Electronic address: lmacpher@umd.edu.
Laura
L
MacPherson
D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
Depression; Empirically supported treatments; Latinos; Psychotherapy