Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #104861

Lani V. Jones, PhD, LICSW, School of social Welfare, University at Albany-SUNY, Richardson Hall, 135 Western Ave., Albany, NY 12222, (518) 442-5324, ljones@albany.edu and Briggett C. Ford, ACSW, MPH, PhD, School of Social Work, University of Michigan, 1080 S. University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106.

Depression is the most prevalent of all psychiatric disorders. Recent estimates indicate that almost 20% of the U.S. population, primarily women, will experience a clinically significant episode of depression at some point in their lives (Gotlib & Hammen, 2002). Black women are considered to be at higher risk for experiencing environmental, biological, and psychosocial risk factors that contribute to depression. Frequently their mental health treatment experiences are infused with undeniable and unyielding acts of discrimination contributing to feelings of oppression and powerlessness. It has been posited that group work has the potential for serving as an effective intervention for decreasing depressive symptomotology and increasing psychosocial competence with this population (Denton, 1990; Francis-Spence, 1994; Jones, 2004). Utilizing an experimental design with pre/post measures and a control group, this study examined the effectiveness of a culturally specific, psycho-educational group intervention model aimed at enhancing psychosocial competence among 40 Black women who were at high risk for developing depressive disorders. The findings of this study offer some preliminary data supporting the effectiveness of a culturally-specific group intervention with Black women and demonstrate that psychosocial changes can be generated over a 10-week time period. In addition these findings have implications for social work education to the extent that field-work and course work have traditionally underemphasized culturally –specific, evidenced based intervention models.

Learning Objectives: Session participants will be able to

• describe strategies on how to develop interventions from a culturally specific framework,
• discuss the implications for reducing depression and enhancing psychosocial competence for Black women and
• articulate how a culturally responsive group interventions can be used as a mode for psychosocial empowerment.

Keywords: African American, Mental Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation