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Abstract #177816

Ping Ho, MA, MPH¹, Jennie C. I. Tsao, PhD¹, Lian Bloch, MA², and Lonnie K. Zeltzer, MD¹. (1) Pediatric Pain Program, Department of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, 2626 33rd Street, Santa Monica, CA 90405-3111, 310-452-1439, pingho@ucla.edu, (2) Clinical Science Program, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, 2205 Tolman Hall, #1650, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650

Latino youth experience social-emotional problems linked to poverty, which are exacerbated by lack of access to and utilization of care. Drumming is a nonverbal and universal activity that builds upon salutary components of Latino culture – cooperation and affiliation – and does not bear the stigma of therapy. A pretest-posttest nonequivalent control group design was used to assess the effects of 12 weeks of asset-based, school counselor-led drumming on social-emotional well-being in two fifth-grade intervention classrooms vs. two standard education control classrooms. The drumming protocol, delivered weekly for 40 minutes, included a therapeutic dimension involving guided interaction, self-disclosure, and reflection. Teachers completed a 113-item Teacher's Report Form for each of 101 participants (N = 54 experimental, N = 47 control, 97% socioeconomically disadvantaged, 91% Latino, 46.5% male, 53.5% female, mean age 10.5 years, range 10-12). There was 100% retention. ANOVA testing showed that intervention classrooms improved significantly in: withdrawn/depression (p < .02), attention problems (p < .01), inattention (p < .001), sluggish cognitive tempo (p < .001), post-traumatic stress problems (p < .01), internalizing problems (p < .02), and total problems (p < .01); and in DSM-oriented subscales: anxiety problems (p < .01), attention deficit/hyperactivity problems (p < .01), inattention (p < .001), and oppositional defiant problems (p < .03). This program is feasible and sustainable. It can increase student-counselor interaction and provide a cost-effective alternative to traditional counseling methods that lose efficacy as students approach middle school. These findings also challenge educational policy that undervalues the importance of the arts.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify two barriers to mental health care among Latino youth and four ways in which drumming is culturally appropriate.
• Describe the protocol for a sustainable program of school counselor-led drumming for increasing social and emotional well-being in 5th grade Latino youth. 3.Explain how this protocol is potentially beneficial to 5th grade Latino youth.

Keywords: Latino Mental Health, School-Based Programs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I was the principal investigator as well as project manager for the study.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.