Improvement in coping skills from culturally-adapted digital CBT for Spanish-speaking Hispanics with substance use disorder: Secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial

Introduction

Developing adaptive coping skills for avoiding substance use is a proposed treatment mechanism of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for substance use disorder (SUD). However, the generalizability of research on treatment mechanisms of CBT for SUD is limited by the underrepresentation of racial/ethnic minorities in clinical trials. In a secondary analysis of clinical trial data, we tested whether a culturally-adapted digital CBT program for Hispanics (“Spanish CBT4CBT”) improved the quality of coping skills for avoiding substance use. We also tested whether coping skills' quality was associated with reductions in primary substance use.

Methods

Participants were Spanish-speaking Hispanic adults seeking outpatient treatment for SUD (n = 85; 68 % male; primary substance type: 36 % cannabis, 33 % alcohol, 26 % cocaine, 5 % other). They were randomized to 8 weeks of outpatient treatment as usual (TAU) or TAU + Spanish CBT4CBT and assessed for 6 months after treatment. The study conducted separate analyses for the full sample (n = 85) and for those who engaged in at least 5 treatment sessions (“treatment exposed”; n = 64). Daily substance use and coping skills' quality were assessed repeatedly during the treatment and follow-up periods. Bayesian mixed models for repeated measures tested hypotheses.

Results

Among treatment-exposed participants, those receiving TAU + Spanish CBT4CBT improved the quality of coping skills more than TAU alone during the treatment period (b = 0.77; 95 % CI[0.08, 1.47]), but this difference was not detected during the follow-up period. In the full sample and treatment exposed subsample, participants with higher quality coping skills during the study reported less primary substance use (b = −0.67; 95 % CI[−1.08, −0.26]). Among treatment-exposed participants only, within-person increases in the quality of coping skills were associated with reductions in future primary substance use (b = −0.18; 95 % CI[−0.36, −0.01]).

Conclusions

Spanish-speaking Hispanics with SUD may improve the quality of their coping skills more when they are sufficiently exposed to a culturally-adapted digital CBT program during outpatient treatment. Coping skills' quality may be a mechanism of CBT for SUD among Hispanic populations. Spanish-speaking Hispanics' access to treatments that target mechanisms of behavior change may be expanded by digital therapeutics.