Symposium 147 - Toward religious and spiritual competencies in evidence-based practice: Research, training, community, and clinical applications

Chair(s)

• SA

  Salman Ahmad, MA

  Grad Student
  University of Miami
  Miami, Florida

Discussant(s)

• JF

  Jesse Fox, Ph.D. (he/him/his)

  Stetson University
  DeLand, Florida

Presenter(s)

• AW

  Amy Weisman de Mamani, Ph.D.

  Professor
  University of Miami
  Coral Gables, Florida
• SA

  Salman Ahmad, MA

  Grad Student
  University of Miami
  Miami, Florida
• MM

  Merranda McLaughlin, M.S. (she/her/hers)

  Graduate Student
  University of Miami
  South Miami, Florida
• AD

  Andrew Dimmick, M.S. (he/him/his)

  The University of North Texas
  Denton, Texas
• CK

  Caroline Kaufman, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

  Research Fellow
  McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School
  Watertown, Massachusetts

As the psychology of religion and spirituality continues to develop as a field, greater focus is being put on serving those of diverse religious/spiritual (R/S) backgrounds by catering psychotherapy and developing specific R/S competencies in research, training, and clinical work. This is also in line with the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Multicultural Guidelines (2017), as religious/spiritual identities are central to many individuals for whom secularized interventions (e.g., contemporary mindfulness) may not be appropriate. This has also led to an increase in pastoral care and other mental health providers serving religious/spiritual groups with whom they are most closely associated. However, placing treatments for religious/spiritual individuals within the context of evidence-based practices is needed in this line of work. As such, this panel will discuss recent efforts to improve religious and spiritual competencies in various domains of evidence-based practice. The panel will be initiated by three presentations from the Muslim American Project (MAP). The first speaker, Dr. Amy Weisman de Mamani, investigated the relationship between forgiveness and mental health among Muslims living in the United States (MLUS). She also assessed whether forgiveness was a mechanism whereby greater Islamic faith impacted mental health, findings that can guide treatment content. The next speaker, Salman S. Ahmad, will discuss results from a culturally informed psychoeducational workshop for MLUS. This workshop was developed via professional and community consultations with the aim of helping MLUS recognize distress and impairment, reduce mental health stigma, and improve help-seeking behaviors. The third speaker, Merranda M. McLaughlin, will discuss results from an ongoing clinical trial of Culturally Informed Therapy (CIT) for Muslims. CIT is a spiritually integrated cognitive behavioral treatment that was adapted specifically for Muslims (referred to as CIT-M) based on findings from MAP’s previous studies of MLUS. The fourth speaker, Dr. Caroline Kaufman, will discuss cultural and religious/spiritual adaptations made to evidence-based treatments to serve Jewish clients at a premier psychiatric hospital. The fifth speaker, Andrew Dimmick, will discuss results from a study that used expert raters and simulated clients to assess clinician competency in religiosity/spirituality and explore its role in psychotherapy processes, which has both training and clinical implications. Our discussant, Dr. Jesse Fox, is co-PI for a large grant project focused on improving religious and spiritual competencies in research, clinical training, and treatment. He will synthesize our findings and contextualize them within the developing framework of religious/spiritual competencies. As the field grows, more conversation surrounding this need and collaboration between scientist-practitioners on the front lines may help to streamline these efforts.