A Review of Treatments for Young Black Males Experiencing Depression

Abstract

The objective was to qualitatively examine the treatment effects of depression interventions on young, Black males (YBM) across treatment providers and settings via a review. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) seeking to ameliorate depressive symptomology in Black males ages 12–29 were eligible for inclusion. After review of 627 abstracts and 212 full-text articles, 12 studies were selected. These RCTs were organized into five categories based on the intervention method. We isolated only one study that targeted YBM exclusively. Additionally, only two treatment effect sizes for YBM were available from the data. While remaining RCTs did involve Black youth, disaggregated data based on race and gender were not reported. Overall, the lack of research specific to YBM prevented any strong conclusions about the treatment effects on depression for this population. Small sample size along with poor representation of YBM were trends in the selected studies that also posed an issue. Therefore, our review produced qualitative findings but failed to isolate any true effect size for YBM being treated for depression. Until more conclusive evidence exists, alternative strategies may need to be employed in order to find appropriate interventions for depressed YBM seeking mental health treatment.

Bibliometric Analysis of Suicide Research Among Black Youth

“…From a practical standpoint, implementing specific interventions that are empirically validated would seem to be a straightforward method to improve the outcomes for Black youth; however, there are significant barriers that exist. For instance, in a review of specific treatments for Black youth depression, Lindsey et al (2018) found that among randomized control trials only one published trial was specifically focused on Black males. Furthermore, these authors indicated that none of the other studies disaggregated outcomes by race, so researchers could not determine the effectiveness of these interventions for Black populations.…”

“…It invites other scholars as well as researchers to expand upon this knowledge. Also, the lack of interventions for depression in Black youth (see Lindsey et al, 2018) should be a call for multi-organizational collaborations between entities, such as the Association of Black Psychologists and the National Association of Black Social Workers, to come up with community-based solutions for this important issue.…”

Understandings of mental health and support for Black male adolescents living in the UK

“…Such an understanding is related to research suggesting that a racial match between client and therapist is the most important feature to attend to amongst African American clients within a community mental health agency (Ward, 2005) and this has also been shown to be associated with favourable treatment outcomes and greater satisfaction (Aggarwala et al, 2016;Maramba & Hall, 2002;Flicker et al, 2001). Literature highlights the topic of racial differences between the client and therapist (Horst et al, 2012), yet little remains about the dialogue between them, for instance the difficulties related to culture and ethnicity, or the therapeutic process (Lindsey, Banks, Cota, Scott & Joe, 2018). As an example, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is arguably the most extensively studied form of psychotherapy (Hofmann et al, 2012), yet it has been described as Eurocentric in its research and development of the frameworks and the inferences made about thinking patterns, limiting its effectiveness for treating people from a diversity of cultures and backgrounds (Sue, 1999;Ginther et al, 2011).…”

An Exploratory Case Study of the Types of Resources Black Boys Use to Support Their Mental Health

“…One study found that 76.5% of Black youth have unmet mental health service needs, while other studies have estimated that rate to be 50% to 75% [ 4 ]. Overall, the mental health of Black boys is under-assessed, and they have significantly unaddressed mental health needs that require more attention [ 2 , 5 ].…”

“…Due to the reciprocity that occurs during social support, its positive components make it vital to mental health and well-being. Families and peers provide informal mental health support for boys who avoid formal mental health resources such as counselors and therapists [ 5 ]. Although Black boys prefer family and peers, studies by Lindsey and colleagues [ 21 , 29 ] found that Black boys with fewer familial ties or absent informal support structures often rely on formal mental health supports such as school counselors and clinical social workers, when in need.…”