Cultural adaptation of CBT as a human rights issue: A UK study

Cognitive behaviour therapies have been used widely across the world and have been recommended as the first line of psychotherapeutic treatment for multiple mental health disorders. However, such blanket guidelines for use of Western-generated psychotherapies discount the socio-cultural determinants and aspects of mental health when recommended unadapted across ethnicities, eventually creating disparities in the quality of care available to different populations. Examining the cultural relevance of these therapies for ethnic minority groups has therefore become an important avenue of inquiry. Recent decades have brought a revolution of cultural competency and adaptation research for such psychotherapies. Despite recent advances in cultural competency and adaptation research, the available body of literature in this domain remains limited and heterogenous. Furthermore, the lack of mandatory cultural competence training and the ineffectiveness of existing programmes increase the obvious discrepancy in the provision of mental healthcare services for certain minority groups, jeopardising equitable access and raising concerns about human rights protection. Aims This study aimed to explore UK-based CBT therapists’ use of adaptations in their own practice, and understand what elements they tend to adapt, the impact and feasibility of their approaches, and the challenges faced by those who adapt and those who do not. The larger intention was to be able to gather information to recommend basic direction for policy and research to create plans for the benefit of ethnic minority groups for whom access to quality, tailored healthcare is currently largely overlooked. Method The study involved developing a survey informed by existing literature and distributing it to UK-based CBT therapists. Results This study found that CBT therapists and their clients value cultural competency. It also found that therapists tend to believe that adapting CBT techniques and implementation and using culturally significant idioms and stories are impactful for their clients and practical to achieve as therapists. It further found that current barriers to adapting CBT for ethnic minority clients involves a lack of resources to study the efficacy of adaptations as well as a lack of well-established evidence-based adaptations in existing literature. Conclusion The authors recommend that policymakers and service managers prioritise the regulation of cultural competence in psychotherapy and afford resources and incentive to researchers and clinicians that would eventually help to improve the effectiveness of their approaches and enhance mental health outcomes for ethnic minority groups. Future research could build on this study using qualitative methods or creating more robust surveys, using random sampling, and drawing larger sample sizes.