Local Mental Health Needs Assessment of Latinos

Associate Professor and ESIN Member, Dr. Esteban Cardemil recognizes the importance of community collaborative partnerships in reducing the racial and ethnic health care disparities that exist in the United States.

In fact, Dr. Cardemil was part of a community partnership designed to address the mental health services of the the underserved Latino population in Worcester, Massachussetts.  This partnership, which was termed the Latino Mental Health (LMH) Project Planning Council included the Department of Mental Health (DMH), Central Massachussets, several well-established health and education organizations, consumers of mental health services, their families, and other community members. 

One of the first steps of the LMH Project Planning Council was to conduct an assessment of local mental health needs and barriers to mental health services among Latinos in the community.  Results from the study (which were published in the Journal of Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research), indicate that participants reported relatively high rates of experiences with symptoms of mental health problems, with significant numbers endorsing culture-bound syndromes and culture-specific expressions of emotional distress (e.g., decaimeinto, nervios, and agitamiento).  With regard to treatment-seeking, significant numbers of participants did not seek treatment for their mental health problems (over 45%).  Of note, very few participants, indicated that family disapproval was a barrier to seeking services, a finding that runs contrary to the general sense that traditional Latino families generally do not approve of mental health services.

The study also found two broad demographic differences in treatment-seeking behavior.  First, Latinos who immigrated from Central and South American countries were significantly less likely to report having sought mental health services for problems than Latinos from Puerto Rico and the U.S.  Second, men were less likely than women to report the use of mental health services for anxiety disorders as well as alcohol and substance aboutse problems. 

In closing, Dr. Cardemil is hopeful that the findings from this study will continue to inform the progress that the mental health community in Worcester is already making to address the mental health care needs of Latinos.  Overall, he believes that needs assessment research conducted by community collaborative partnerships can play an important role in reducing the racial and ethnic health care disparities that exist in the US, as more and more communities begin to address health care disparties at a local level.

 
About Dr. Esteban Cardemil

Dr. Cardemil received a B.A. from Swarthmore College in 1993 and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994 and 2000, respectively. He was subsequently at Brown University, where he completed his predoctoral internship in 2000, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship. He has been at Clark since 2002.

Dr. Cardemil's research focuses on the effects of race, ethnicity, and social class on psychopathology, with a particular emphasis on the applicability of cognitive and family models to depression. Current research projects take place in the local community. One ongoing research project is an NIMH-funded investigation of a depression prevention program for low-income Latina mothers. This study investigates the efficacy of the Family Coping Skills Program, a prevention program that integrates group and family-based interventions. Other research projects investigate the effects of culture and gender in a variety of contexts, including middle- and high-school urban children, Latino families, and the treatment-seeking process. In addition, Dr. Cardemil has written about the incorporation of considerations of race, ethnicity, and culture into psychotherapy practice and research.