Latinos and Depression: Findings from a Community-based Mental Health Promotion Effort

In-depth research amongst Latino communities is essential. Any sustainable solution to address Latino mental health disparities must consider the interrelated factors of culture, policy, and healthcare access. To address this, the National Council of La Raza, supported by the Lilly Foundation, implemented a promotores de salud-driven (lay health educators) project – De Blanco y Negro a Colores: Entendiendo la Depresión – to increase awareness, knowledge, and actions related to depression among Latinos in four communities. NCLR-trained promotores reached 659 Latinos through charlas (community health education sessions). Almost 85% of participants completed the program evaluation with over 408 also completing the accompanying the PHQ-9 depression screening questionnaire.

Evaluation results found that for over three-quarters of participants, the charla was the first session they had ever attended on mental health. Forty-two percent reported anticipating barriers when trying to access mental health services. Barriers included lack of insurance and money. Additionally, in spite of overall low levels of depression-related symptoms, participants who were Spanish monolingual regardless of country of origin or number of years in the U.S., and those who had been diagnosed with either cancer, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure, had significantly higher PHQ-9 scores than English-speaking Latinos and those who had not been diagnosed with the aforementioned diseases, respectively.

Although a small sample, project results indicate that more Latino-specific outreach needs to be conducted on mental health and that attention needs to be paid to the mental health of Spanish-monolingual individuals and those diagnosed with certain illnesses.