Is cultural adaptation needed beyond using Christian-accommodated REACH forgiveness psychoeducational group intervention in Ghana? An efficacy study comparing a Christian-accommodated version against a version accommodated by Christian and cultural adaptations

The Christian REACH Forgiveness intervention is a 5-step psychoeducation program that focuses on promoting decisional and emotional forgiveness for an identified transgression and fostering forgivingness in general. In this study, the Christian REACH Forgiveness model was used with Ghanaian Christians (N 264; 260 are analyzed) who experienced specific interpersonal injuries and expressed a desire to forgive their transgressors. Participants were randomly assigned to a standard or Ghanaian-culture adapted REACH interventions using a waiting-list design in which participants were divided into an immediate and delayed treatment condition. Outcomes did not vary by sex, and there were no differences based on adaptations to Ghanaian culture. However, people who received either treatment benefitted by more forgiveness and conciliatory motivations, decisional and emotional forgiveness, forbearance, and dispositional forgivingness. This intervention is the first known forgiveness intervention to compare an existing and culturally adapted intervention head-tohead and the first intervention tested within an African context.