(PS4-B41) Relationship Between Race and Ethnicity Status on PTSD Treatment Completion in a Community Mental Health Sample

Racial and ethnic minorities are at increased risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared to their white counterparts (Dixon, Ahles, Marques, 2016) and research suggests that rates of PTSD treatment completion differ across racial and ethnic groups (McClendon, Dean, & Galovski, 2020). However, few studies have directly examined racial and ethnic differences in PTSD treatment outcomes (Spoont & McClendon, 2020), especially in routine clinical practice. Understanding these disparities is integral to ensuring equitable implementation of evidence-based treatments across diverse populations. This study evaluated the relationship between racial-ethnic group status and treatment completion in a sample of Hispanic (n = 133), Non- Hispanic White (n = 276), and Non-Hispanic Black (n = 68) adolescent and adult patients receiving evidence-based PTSD treatment in a community mental health setting. Patients were considered completers if (a) the provider reported treatment completion, (b) patients scored below 20 on the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 at posttreatment, which is considered “good end-state” (Wachen et al., 2019), or (c) patients completed the standard number of sessions. Likelihood of treatment completion did not differ by racial-ethnic group, X² (2) =, 5.68, p = .058, while differences were found in number of sessions completed, F(2, 476) = 5.26, p = .006. Specifically, Non-Hispanic White patients attended significantly more sessions (M = 7.7) than Non-Hispanic Black patients (M = 6.2), p = .010. Given that 8 sessions of treatment is considered an “adequate dose” of treatment (Spoont et al., 2010), additional research is needed to understand the factors involved in deciding that treatment has been completed, and the potential impact on long term treatment outcomes.