This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy among Ghana's Rural Poor Is Effective Regardless of Baseline Mental Distress

Download Full Text PDF
(Complimentary)

Abstract

We study the impact of group-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for individuals selected from the general population of poor households in rural Ghana (N = 7,227). Results from one to three months after the program show strong impacts on mental and perceived physical health, cognitive and socioemotional skills, and economic self-perceptions. These effects hold regardless of baseline mental distress. We argue that this is because CBT can improve well-being for a general population of poor individuals through two pathways: reducing vulnerability to deteriorating mental health and directly increasing cognitive capacity and socioemotional skills.

Citation

Barker, Nathan, Gharad Bryan, Dean Karlan, Angela Ofori-Atta, and Christopher Udry. 2022. "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy among Ghana's Rural Poor Is Effective Regardless of Baseline Mental Distress." American Economic Review: Insights, 4 (4): 527-45. DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20210612

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
  • I12 Health Behavior
  • I15 Health and Economic Development
  • I31 General Welfare; Well-Being
  • I32 Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
  • O12 Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
  • O18 Economic Development: Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure