J Consult Clin Psychol. 2025 Oct;93(10):677-689. doi: 10.1037/ccp0000979.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Personalizable modular treatments may be helpful in addressing the mental health needs of minoritized youths. We used data from five randomized effectiveness trials of the Modular Approach to Therapy for Children, a personalizable, individually tailored, modular treatment for common youth mental health concerns, to investigate whether clinical outcomes were predicted by ethnicity, family income, and their interaction.
METHOD: Participants were drawn from a pool of 537 clinically referred youths treated for internalizing and/or externalizing problems in community clinics and their caregivers. The mean youth age was 9.97 (SD = 2.59); 57% were male; 49% were White, 22% Hispanic or Latinx, 14% Black, 13% multiethnic, 1% Asian, and 1% other ethnicity. Family income ranged from 21% to 776% of the federal poverty threshold, with 38% below the threshold. Youths and caregivers completed standardized measures of internalizing and externalizing problems quarterly for up to 24 months and standardized measures of internalizing and externalizing problems and idiographic top problem severity weekly throughout treatment.
RESULTS: Following adjustment for multiple analyses, ethnicity, income, and their interaction did not predict symptom improvement on any youth or caregiver-reported outcomes.
CONCLUSIONS: Youths treated with the Modular Approach to Therapy for Children experienced comparable clinical benefits across ethnic groups and income levels, with no predictor effects when the number of tests was controlled for. The findings support future research on personalizable modular treatment for minoritized youths. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
PMID:41129368 | DOI:10.1037/ccp0000979
