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Efficacy of REACH Forgiveness Across Cultures
Author(s) -
Lin Yin,
Worthington Everett L.,
Griffin Brandon J.,
Greer Chelsea L.,
OpareHenaku Annabella,
Lavelock Caroline R.,
Hook Joshua N.,
Ho Man Yee,
Muller Holly
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.22073
Subject(s) - forgiveness , psychology , intervention (counseling) , psychological intervention , clinical psychology , social psychology , psychotherapist , psychiatry
Objective This study investigates the efficacy of the 6‐hour REACH Forgiveness intervention among culturally diverse undergraduates. Method Female undergraduates ( N = 102) and foreign extraction (46.2%) and domestic (43.8%) students in the United States were randomly assigned to immediate treatment or waitlist conditions. Treatment efficacy and the effect of culture on treatment response were assessed using measures of emotional and decisional forgiveness across 3 time periods. Results Students in the treatment condition reported greater improvement in emotional forgiveness, but not decisional forgiveness, relative to those in the waitlist condition. Gains were maintained at a 1‐week follow‐up. Although culture did not moderate the effect of treatment, a main effect of culture on emotional forgiveness and marginally significant interaction effect of culture on decisional forgiveness were found. Conclusion The REACH Forgiveness intervention was efficacious for college students from different cultural backgrounds when conducted in the United States. However, some evidence may warrant development of culturally adapted forgiveness interventions.