A quick scoping review of psychosocial treatment recommendations for African Americans with schizophrenia spectrum disorders

ABSTRACT

Objective: To determine the generalizability of the Schizophrenia Patient Outcomes Research Team (PORT) 2009 treatment recommendations to African Americans. Methods: We examined inclusion of African Americans with schizophrenia spectrum disorders in 58 studies across seven interventions. Results: Evidence varied by intervention. Representation of African Americans ranged from 0% to 83%. The strongest evidence was found for assertive community treatment, supported employment, substance use disorder interventions, skills training, and weight management interventions. Conclusions: Future research should recruit samples that are representative of African Americans. We offer practice recommendations as well as recommendations for social work research to advance generalization of findings to African Americans.

KEYWORDS:

• African American
• black
• mental health or community mental health
• literature review
• evidence-based practice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.