Residual Effects of Slavery: A Delphi Study

Slavery and its aftermath have created multiple challenges that are unique to the African American community. Although literature exists within other disciplines, no published empirical study within the marriage and family therapy literature has examined the residual effects of slavery. We used a modified Delphi methodology to explore the residual effects of slavery on African Americans and to determine resultant clinical implications. To obtain information from panelists who have expertise in this area, we conducted three rounds of data collection: an open-ended questionnaire, a Likert-scale questionnaire, and a round of in-depth interviews. Based on our analysis of the data collected, this empirical study describes the influence of the residual effects of slavery, implications for clinicians and directions for future research.