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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Britt Rios-Ellis, PhD, MS¹, Lorena Rodriguez Chandler, MPH¹, and Liany Elba Arroyo, MPH². (1) NCLR/CSULB Center for Latino Community Health, California State University Long Beach, 6300 State University Drive, Suite 125, Long Beach, CA 90815, 5629854127, bellis@csulb.edu, (2) Institute for Hispanic Health, National Council of La Raza, Raul Yzaguirre Building, 1126 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036

Although Latinos are now the largest racial/ethnic minority group in the U.S., there exists little understanding as to the specific mental health needs of Latinos. Research indicates that acculturation and immigration processes play a unique role in Latino mental health status. Latinos, particularly those who are acculturated, appear to demonstrate almost double the rates of depression and other mental health issues when compared to their immigrant counterparts. Furthermore, Latinos are more likely to be uninsured when compared to all other racial/ethnic groups, and few Latino Spanish speaking mental health providers are available.

In November of 2005, the National Council of La Raza in collaboration with California State University Long Beach, published a white paper detailing the findings of a summit held to convene leading researchers, academics, providers and community members to better inform Latino mental health issues. Six key areas were emphasized through research and work groups: depression, immigration and acculturation, chemical use and dependency, domestic violence, suicide, and mental health and co-morbidity issues. The white paper sought to inform these specific areas, while providing policy and outreach recommendations to improve the mental health profile of underserved Latino populations. These include: the integration of mental health into overall health care services, the removal of linguistic and literacy level related barriers to care, collaboration with community based organizations, the creation of mental health peer educators, improving providers' cultural sensitivity, increasing Latino specific services, and bettering the Latino specific training of both providers and first responders.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to

• Better understand the prominent mental health issues impacting Latinos.
• Recognize the institutional, economic, cultural and linguistic barriers to mental health care for Latinos.
• Identify best practices to conduct mental health outreach to Latinos, as well as policy recommendations to ameliorate institutional, economic and linguistic barriers to care and treatment.

Keywords: Latino, Mental Health

Related Web page: www.nclr.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation