# Problem-solving therapy (Friendship Bench)

**Intervention ID:** `int_friendship_bench`  
**Evidence strength:** strong  
**Causes:** `cause_mental_health_lmic`, `cause_global_health_wellbeing`

## Mechanism

One-to-one lay problem-solving therapy.

## Organizations in this catalog

- `org_friendship_bench`
- `org_happier_lives_fund`

## Citations (public evaluator pages)

- https://www.happierlivesinstitute.org/friendship-bench-comprehensive-summary/
- https://www.happierlivesinstitute.org/charities/

## Evidence notes

HLI rates quality of evidence low–moderate: meta-analysis plus four Friendship Bench RCTs and M&E pre-post (HLI Friendship Bench summary).

## Key uncertainties

- FB RCTs: some/high risk of bias in half of studies; moderate imprecision/inconsistency (HLI Friendship Bench summary).
- M&E synthetic control provides limited information; potential substantial bias (HLI Friendship Bench summary).
- Future research could update evaluation (HLI Friendship Bench summary conclusion).

## Fungibility notes

HLI reports Friendship Bench funding gap for 2025–2026 including USAID cut impacts; not a formal fungibility model (HLI Friendship Bench summary).

## Cost-effectiveness notes (do not treat as verified without citation_urls)

HLI ~48.52 WELLBYs/$1000; ~$20.61/WELLBY.

Agents must look up `data/claims_index.json` and cite `citation_urls` before stating numbers.

## Provenance

See `docs/evaluation-provenance.md` and `data/graph/evaluations_graph.json`.

_last_reviewed: 2026-10-01_