Engaging African American clergy and community members to increase access to evidence-based practices for depression

Abstract

African American clergy provide informal counseling for community members with depression. Through a qualitative case study with two African American clergy and 25 community members in New York City, the authors explored perspectives on training clergy in interpersonal counseling (IPC). Data were analyzed by using thematic analysis. Results were grouped into three themes: mistrust of institutions, depression stigma, and feasibility of training clergy in IPC. Clergy members wanted IPC training but did not want to counsel more people. Thus, training clergy may be insufficient to reduce racial disparities in access to evidence-based depression services.