Combined Medication and CBT for Generalized Anxiety Disorder With African American Participants: Reliability and Validity of Assessments and Preliminary Outcomes

• Data are analyzed from a study of medication plus CBT for GAD.
• African Americans are compared with European Americans on efficacy measures.
• Reliability and validity of scales are adequate in the African American sample.
• No significant differences in outcome were found between African Americans and European Americans.
• Descriptively, African Americans had better outcomes than European Americans.

Using data from a study of combined cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and venlafaxine XR in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), the current article examines the reliability and convergent validity of scales, and preliminary outcomes, for African American compared with European American patients. Internal consistency and short-term stability coefficients for African Americans (n = 42) were adequate and similar or higher compared with those found for European Americans (n = 164) for standard scales used in GAD treatment research. Correlations among outcome measures among African Americans were in general not significantly different for African Americans compared with European Americans. A subset of patients with DSM-IV–diagnosed GAD (n = 24 African Americans; n = 52 European Americans) were randomly selected to be offered the option of adding 12 sessions of CBT to venlafaxine XR treatment. Of those offered CBT, 33.3% (n = 8) of the African Americans and 32.6% (n = 17) of the European Americans accepted and attended at least one CBT treatment session. The outcomes for African Americans receiving combined treatment were not significantly different from European Americans receiving combined treatment on primary or secondary efficacy measures.