THERE’S NO ‘I’ IN GCBT: IDENTIFYING PREDICTORS OF GROUP-LEVEL OUTCOME IN TRANSDIAGNOSTIC GROUP COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY FOR ANXIETY

Anxiety disorders represent a prevalent and impairing class of disorders. While individual and group cognitive-behavioral interventions have been efficacious in treating anxiety, this research typically looks at individuals or study condition as the unit(s) of analysis. Thus, an understudied area in group therapy is in the investigation of outcome with therapy group as the unit of analysis. Using data from 43 transdiagnostic CBT groups representing a heterogeneous composition of anxiety disorders, this study analyzed data at the level of therapy group to investigate predictors of group-level change associated with this treatment. Results demonstrated that gender heterogeneity and group cohesion positively predict group outcome while racial/ethnic heterogeneity negatively predicts outcome. However, results suggest that negative effects of racial/ethnic heterogeneity were limited to only the most diverse groups, which may need to integrate more multicultural perspectives in order to better integrate the different cultural identities. Results and implications are discussed in terms of CBT group composition and the implementation of culturally sensitive strategies into evidence-based treatments.