Cognitive behavioral therapy for university students with social phobia: A method to culturally adapt group therapy

Abstract

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Social phobia is a debilitating anxiety disorder with negative social implications. University students in Sri Lanka appear to have high prevalence rates of social phobia according to preliminary studies. Establishing a methodology by which interventions such as, Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy (CBGT) could be culturally adapted is the objective of this study. METHOD: The gold standard CBGT was used to construct the structure of the intervention. CBGT interventions that have been modified to suit university student participant groups in the West were reviewed to revise the structure of the therapy. Existing cross-cultural therapy adaptation models were identified to derive factors to be taken in to consideration within this adaptation process. A study of other mental health intervention programs that have been cross-culturally adapted in diverse cultural settings was carried out. RESULTS: The methodology obtained constituted of three steps. The intervention program was initially reviewed by a panel of clinical psychologists to assess for appropriateness of content. Thereafter, the finalized layout, including activity worksheets were translated to Sinhala Language, and re-translated to English to test for accuracy. Finally, the translated documents were assessed by a panel of mental health experts in Sri Lanka and consensus was reached. CONCLUSIONS: A practical methodology to cross-culturally adapt psychological therapy for social phobia in the Sri Lankan context was developed