A Case Series of Culturally-adapted CBTp for Black People in the UK

Culturally-adapted Cognitive-behavioural Therapy for Black Sub-Saharan African and Caribbean People Experiencing Psychosis: A Case Series

The goal of this case series study is to learn if culturally-adapted cognitive-behavioural therapy is practical, acceptable and safe among Black Sub-Saharan African and Caribbean people experiencing psychosis. The main question it aims to answer is:

Is culturally-adapted CBT for psychosis feasible, acceptable to and safe for Black Sub-Saharan African and Caribbean people experiencing psychosis?

Participants will be asked to:

• Answer some questionnaires about how things are at the moment
• Attend up to 16 sessions of therapy
• Answer the same questionnaires to see what has changed, if anything
• Complete a semi-structured interview about their expectations and experience of therapy

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Psychosis; Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Culturally-adapted cognitive-behavioural therapy

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 6
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Peter Panayi; Phone Number: +44161 306 6000; Email: peter.panayi@manchester.ac.uk

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Manchester, United Kingdom
    • Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Service users who identify as Black British, Black Caribbean, Black African, African-Caribbean or Mixed African/Caribbean with at least one parent and/or grandparent born in a Sub-Saharan African or Caribbean country
• People with a current ICD-10 schizophrenia spectrum disorder diagnosis, or who are currently receiving or have received support from an Early Intervention in Psychosis team
• 16 years or older
• Sufficient understanding of English to complete study measures and engage with CBTp

Exclusion Criteria:

• Current, primary diagnosis of substance use disorder
• Organic aetiology of psychosis
• Lacking capacity to provide full informed consent
• Currently experiencing a mental health crisis (i.e., are open to a home-based treatment team; are currently under Section of the Mental Health Act or have been under Section in the past 3 months) or immediate high risk to self or others (i.e., current suicidal intent or plans; unmanaged and intense non-suicidal self-injury)
• Currently receiving CBTp or received CBTp within the preceding 3 months
• Unwilling to participate in culturally-adapted CBTp

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Therapy	Behavioral: Culturally-adapted cognitive-behavioural therapy; Cognitive-behavioural therapy for psychosis culturally-adapted for Black Sub-Saharan African and Caribbean people using a dedicated, integrated treatment manual

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Semi-structured qualitative interview: Service user acceptability	Service user satisfaction as assessed by qualitative interview.	End of therapy (16 weeks)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Working Alliance Inventory-Short Form Revised	Acceptability measured sessionally using the Working Alliance Inventory-Short Form Revised (Hatcher & Gillaspy, 2006)	End of therapy (16 weeks)
Adverse Events Checklist	Safety monitored sessionally using an Adverse Events Checklist developed for this study	Each therapy session (16 weeks)
Subjective Experience of Psychosis Scale	Subjective distress measured by the Subjective Experience of Psychosis Scale (Haddock et al., 2011)	End of therapy (16 weeks)
Questionnaire about the Process of Recovery	Perceived recovery measured by the Questionnaire about the Process of Recovery (Law et al., 2014)	End of therapy (16 weeks)
Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales	Emotional wellbeing measured by the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995)	End of therapy (16 weeks)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Manchester

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): January 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 30, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 18, 2025
• First Posted (Estimated): November 26, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): December 3, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 25, 2025
• Last Verified: November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders; Mental Disorders; Psychotic Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: NHS002287

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No