An Initial Examination of Couple Therapy for PTSD Outcomes Among Black/African American Adults: Findings from an Uncontrolled Trial with Military Dyads
Black/African American individuals experience high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is frequently chronic and undertreated in this population. Intimate relationships are a salient resource for Black/African American adults' psychological well-being. To help advance health equity, this study serves as an initial, proof-of-concept investigation of patient outcomes among Black/African American adults who received a disorder-specific couple therapy for PTSD. Participants were a subsample of seven Black/African American adults (mean age = 40.56 years, <i>SD</i> = 10.18; 85.7% male) who participated in an uncontrolled trial of an abbreviated, intensive, multi-couple group version of cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy for PTSD with 24 military dyads. Treatment was delivered over 2 days in a weekend retreat format. Assessments were administered at baseline, 1 month post-retreat, and 3 months post-retreat. There were large and significant decreases in patients' PTSD symptoms based on clinicians' and patients' ratings (<i>d</i>s -1.37 and -1.36, respectively) by the 3-month follow-up relative to baseline. There were also large and significant decreases in patients' depressive, anxiety, and anger symptoms (<i>d</i>s -1.39 to -1.93) and a large, marginally significant decrease in patients' insomnia (<i>d</i> = -0.85; <i>p</i> = 0.083). Patients reported a medium, non-significant increase in relationship satisfaction (<i>d</i> = 0.68; <i>p</i> = 0.146) and a large, marginally significant increase in joint dyadic coping (<i>d</i> = 0.90; <i>p</i> = 0.069). Findings offer preliminary evidence that treating PTSD within a couple context is a relevant strategy to reduce PTSD and comorbid symptoms among partnered Black/African American adults and a promising approach to enhance relationships.
Authors
- Steffany J. Fredman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2053-8700)
- Scott M. Stanley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8323-3501)
- Galena K. Rhoades (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3514-8139)
- August I. C. Jenkins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5971-9787)
- Terence M. Keane (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0482-3149)
- Jacqueline A. Mogle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6082-228X)
- Jeffrey S. Yarvis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6668-874X)
- Alan L. Peterson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2947-2936)
- Tabatha H. Blount (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5227-313X)
- Stacey Young‐McCaughan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3327-5233)
- Brett T. Litz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0479-8887)
- Katherine A. Dondanville (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4204-7926)
- Brooke A. Fina (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2054-5564)
- Candice M. Monson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6179-0788)
- Roland J. Thorpe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4448-4997)
- Alexandra Macdonald (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7559-2085)
- Kristi E. Pruiksma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6585-4670)
- Yunying Le (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4172-5943)
- Alyssa Gamaldo
- Orfeu Marcello Buxton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5057-633X)
- Brittany N. Hall‐Clark (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5888-836X)
- Charlene E. Gamaldo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9386-9666)
- Daniel J. Taylor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3433-2516)
- Christopher G. Engeland
Institutions
- Boston University (US)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- University of Denver (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center (US)
- Johns Hopkins Medicine (US)
- Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center (US)
- VA Boston Healthcare System (US)
- National Center for PTSD (US)
- South Texas Veterans Health Care System (US)
- The University of Texas at San Antonio (US)
- Toronto Metropolitan University (CA)
- Clemson University (US)
- Auburn University (US)
- Citadel (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Behavioral Sciences
- Published
- 2025-04-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15040537
- Primary Topic
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- U.S. Department of Defense
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
- Pennsylvania State University
- University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
- National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities