Data and Code for: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Among Ghana’s Rural Poor Is Effective Regardless of Baseline Mental Distress

We study the impact of group-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for individuals selected from the general population of poor households in rural Ghana (N=7,227). Results from 1-3 months after the program show strong impacts on mental and perceived physical health, cognitive and socioemotional skills, and economic self-perceptions. These effects hold regardless of baseline mental distress. We argue that this is because CBT can improve well-being for a general population of poor individuals through two pathways: reducing vulnerability to deteriorating mental health, and directly increasing cognitive capacity and socioemotional skills.

This project folder contains the data and code needed to replicate the results in this paper.