Psychotherapy Effects with Ethnic Minorities
Our research tests existing assumptions concerning ethnicity/culture and psychotherapy effects, with a particular focus on whether cultural adaptations influence outcomes for ethnic minorities. Using experimental methods and meta-analysis, we test how culturally-responsive and standard interventions work for ethnic minorities with diverse mental health problems. This work has led to three major findings that are somewhat counterintuitive. First, conventional evidence-based treatments (EBTs) are mostly efficacious for ethnic minorities. Second, EBTs generally work equally well for ethnic minority and European American clients. Third, cultural adaptation of treatments has both potential benefits and limitations (i.e., there is some evidence of potential harm) when applied to ethnic minorities.
Huey, S.J., Jr., Park, A.L., Galan, C., & Wang, C.X. (2023). Culturally-responsive cognitive behavioral therapy for ethnically diverse populations. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology,19(1), 51-78. VIEW
Huey, S.J., Jr., Tilley, J.L., Jones, E.O., Smith, C.A. (2014). The contribution of cultural competence to evidence-based care for ethnically diverse populations. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 10, 305-338. VIEW
Huey, S.J., Jr., & Tilley, J.L. (2018). Effects of mental health interventions with Asian Americans: A review and meta-analysis. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 11, 915-930. VIEW
Pan, D., Huey, S.J., Jr., & Hernandez, D. (2011). Culturally-adapted versus standard exposure treatment for phobic Asian Americans: Treatment efficacy, moderators, and predictors. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17, 11-22. VIEW
Psychotherapy Effects and Processes with At-Risk and Offending Youth
Another research area addresses treatment effects for juvenile offenders and other high-risk youth (e.g., hospitalized, suicidal youth), and identifying treatment mechanisms of change. For example, in our research on Multisystemic Therapy (MST), we found that fidelity to the MST protocol was associated with reduced delinquency, and that effects were mediated by improved family functioning and peer relations. More recently, our lab used meta-analysis to investigate “adverse effects” when intervening with gang-involved youth and adults, and what factors might lead to such outcomes.
Galbraith, K., & Huey, S.J., Jr. (in press). Gender differences in intervention effects on delinquency for justice-involved youth: A preliminary meta-analysis. Journal of Experimental Criminology. VIEW
Huey, S.J., Jr., Henggeler, S.W., Rowland, M.D., Halliday-Boykins, C., Cunningham, P.B., Edwards, J., & Pickrel, S.G. (2004). Multisystemic Therapy reduces attempted suicide in a high-risk sample. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 43, 183-190. VIEW
Sayegh, C.S., Hall-Clark, B., McDaniel, D.D., Halliday-Boykins, C.A., Cunningham, P.B., & Huey, S.J., Jr. (2019). A preliminary investigation of ethnic differences in resistance in Multisystemic Therapy. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 48 (supp. 1), S13-S23. VIEW
Rubenson, M. P., Galbraith, K., Shin, O., Beam, C. R., & Huey, S. J., Jr. (2021). When helping hurts? Toward a nuanced interpretation of adverse effects in gang-focused interventions. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 28(1), 29–39. VIEW
Peer Coach Training for Discipline-Referred Youth
More recently our lab has pursued other paths to intervention that focus less on remediating deficits and more on building on strengths in high-risk youth before they enter the justice system. With funding from USC’s Zumberge Fund and the Mental Research Institute, we developed and evaluated peer coach training (PCT), a school-based intervention based on the counterintuitive notion that discipline-referred middle-school youth might benefit when trained to act as change agents for their peers. Results from our pilot work at a South Los Angeles middle school (78% Latinx, 22% Black) were encouraging, with intervention youth showing significant reductions in conduct problems and aggressive behavior over time (Galbraith, Tarbox, & Huey, 2023). We recently received funding from the William T. Grant Foundation which will allow us to scale up and further evaluate PCT in the context of a cluster randomized trial across multiple middle schools in Los Angeles.
Galbraith, K., Tarbox, J., & Huey, S.J., Jr. (2023). Assessing the feasibility of Peer Coach Training for disruptive middle school youth: A mixed methods pilot study. Journal of Child & Family Studies, 32(6), 1753-1764. VIEW
Brief Interventions for Psychosocial Problems
In recent years, our work has focused on developing and testing brief interventions for ethnic minorities with diverse psychosocial problems. Some of these studies assess the relative benefits of culturally-tailored vs “generic” intervention strategies. Other studies deal with adapting dissonance-based interventions for older adolescents. In randomized trials, we find that interventions ranging one to four sessions are often effective at increasing program engagement and reducing mental health symptoms (e.g., depressive symptoms, phobias) across different at-risk samples.
Pan, D., Huey, S.J., Jr., & Hernandez, D. (2011). Culturally-adapted versus standard exposure treatment for phobic Asian Americans: Treatment efficacy, moderators, and predictors. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17, 11-22. VIEW
Chithambo, T.P., & Huey, S.J., Jr. (2017). Internet-delivered eating disorder prevention: A randomized controlled trial of dissonance-based and cognitive-behavioral treatments. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 50(1), 1142-1151. VIEW
Sayegh, C.S., Huey, S.J., Jr., Barnett, E., & Spruit-Metz, D. (2017). Motivational Interviewing to prevent dropout from an education and employment program for young adults: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Adolescence, 58, 1-11. VIEW
Pan, D., & Huey, S.J., Jr., & Heflin, L.H. (2019). Ethnic differences in response to directive vs. non-directive brief intervention for subsyndromal depression. Psychotherapy Research, 29(2), 186-197. VIEW
Factors Contributing to Ethnoracial Disparities in Mental Health
Our lab also investigates factors that help explain ethocultural disparities in psychiatric symptoms and treatment access and care. Of particular note, we investigate how bias-related experiences influence mental health symptoms and adjustment.
Chithambo, T., Huey, S.J., Jr., & Cespedes-Knadle, Y. (2014). Perceived discrimination and Latino youth adjustment: Examining the influence of relinquished control, discrimination attribution, nativity, and acculturation. Journal of Latino Psychology, 2(1), 54-66. VIEW
Tilley, J.L., Huey, S.J., Jr., Farver, J.M., Lai, M.H.C., Wang, C.X. (2021). The immigrant paradox in the problem behaviors of youth in the United States: A meta-analysis. Child Development, 92(2), 502-516. VIEW
Vargas, S.M., Huey, S.J., Jr., & Miranda, J. (2020). A critical review of current evidence on multiple types of discrimination and mental health. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 90(3), 374-390. VIEW
Wang, C.X., Huey, S.J., Jr., & Rubenson, M.P. (2024). Effects of COVID-19 related economic threat on political conservatism, xenophobia, and racial bias in the United States. PLOS One. VIEW