Iwankapiya American Indian pilot clinical trial: Historical trauma and group interpersonal psychotherapy

American Indians face pervasive trauma exposure, collective histories of communal suffering, and elevated risk for depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. In addition to socioeconomic barriers, access to culturally responsive treatment is limited, which may compromise treatment engagement. The Iwankapiya study piloted the Historical Trauma and Unresolved Grief Intervention (HTUG), combined with Group Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), to reduce symptoms of depression and related trauma and grief. The study hypothesized that HTUG + IPT would lead to greater group engagement and decreased depression and related symptoms compared with IPT-Only. American Indian adults (n = 52) were randomized into one of two 12-session interventions, HTUG + IPT or IPT-Only, at two tribal sites: one Northern Plains reservation (n = 26) and one Southwest urban clinic (n = 26). Standardized measures assessed depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, grief, trauma, and substance use. Data were collected at screening, baseline, end of intervention, and 8 weeks postintervention; depression and group engagement measures were also collected at Weeks 4 and 8 of the intervention. Depression scores significantly decreased for both treatments, but there were no significant differences in depression between the two groups: IPT-Only (30.2 ± 6.4 at baseline to 16.7 ± 12.1 at follow-up) and HTUG + IPT (30.2 ± 8.1 at baseline to 19.9 ± 8.8 at follow-up). However, HTUG + IPT participants demonstrated significantly greater group engagement. Postintervention, clinicians expressed preference for HTUG + IPT based upon qualitative observations of greater perceived gains among participants. Given the degree of trauma exposure in tribal communities, these findings in a relatively small sample suggest HTUG should be further examined in context of treatment engagement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).