Abstract
Objective: Mental health disparities between racial/ethnic minorities (REM) and White individuals are well documented. These disparities extend into psychotherapy and have been observed among clients receiving care at university/college counseling centers. However, less is known about if campus RE composition affects outcomes from psychotherapy for REM and White clients. Method: This study examined psychotherapy outcomes from 16,011 clients who engaged in services at 33 university/college counseling centers. Each of these clients completed the Behavioral Health Measure as a of part routine practice. Campus RE composition was coded from publicly available data. Results: The results demonstrated that White clients had better therapy outcomes than REM clients when they were at campuses where there were more White students. For universities 1 SD below the mean percentage of White students, the average difference in therapy outcomes for White and REM clients was Cohen’s d =.21 (with White students experiencing more improvement); however, for universities 1 SD above the mean, the between group outcome disparity was greater (Cohen’s d =.38). Conclusion: Therapists and higher education professionals should consider environmental impacts on counseling services.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 418-424 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of Counseling Psychology |
Volume | 68 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2021 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Counseling center
- Racial/ethnic disparities
- Social capital
- Therapy outcomes
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Psychiatry and Mental health