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Lay group interpersonal psychotherapy

Intervention ID: int_group_ipt
Evidence strength: strong
Causes: cause_mental_health_lmic, cause_global_health_wellbeing

Mechanism

Group psychotherapy by trained lay counselors.

Organizations in this catalog

• org_shamiri
• org_happier_lives_fund
• org_actra
• org_strongminds

Citations (public evaluator pages)

• https://www.happierlivesinstitute.org/strongminds-comprehensive-summary/
• https://www.happierlivesinstitute.org/charities/

Evidence notes

HLI rates quality of evidence low–moderate (GRADE-adapted): meta-analysis of 84 psychotherapy RCTs, one StrongMinds-related RCT (limited relevance), and M&E pre-post data (HLI StrongMinds summary).

Key uncertainties

• Limited relevance of Baird et al. RCT to StrongMinds’ current adult partner-delivered model (HLI StrongMinds summary FAQ).
• M&E pre-post uses synthetic control; potential substantial bias (HLI StrongMinds summary).
• Publication bias and inconsistency in general psychotherapy literature (HLI StrongMinds summary).

Fungibility notes

HLI reports StrongMinds funding gaps for 2025–2026; figures are organization fundraising targets, not GiveWell-style fungibility adjustments (HLI StrongMinds summary).

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

HLI StrongMinds ~40.37 WELLBYs/$1000; ~$24.77/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