Stakeholder Perspectives on Eliminating Disparities in Mental Health Service Use for Latinx Youth: A Qualitative Study

ABSTRACT

Roughly 88% of Latinx youth in the United States have unmet mental health needs. Studies have examined barriers to treatment, though few have explicitly examined solutions for eliminating ethnic disparities, or considered more than one stakeholder viewpoint at a time. Thus, the current study utilized narrative data from multiple stakeholders to directly investigate perspectives on solutions to eliminating disparities. Participants included 16 Latinx caregivers whose children were currently receiving mental health services (M_age = 37.1 years), 24 Latinx caregivers whose children had never received services (M_age = 37.0 years), and 51 service providers and agency managers. Qualitative data were collected via 90-minute, semi-structured focus groups, which consisted of broad themes related to youth’s mental health service use, including eliciting stakeholders’ proposed solutions to resolving disparities. Content analysis of the qualitative responses was used to identify emergent themes in the transcripts. Data yielded six major themes for reducing service disparities: educational outreach (27% of data), integrated systems (23%), improved access to services (21%), provider/service changes (16%), caregiver support (7%), and reduction of stigma/fear (6%). Proposed solutions emerged across multiple levels of intervention, including family, agency, and system-wide interventions. Results also revealed convergence and divergence across stakeholder perspectives. By investigating solutions directly and capitalizing on multiple stakeholder perspectives, the current study produced a number of practical solutions targeting various levels of intervention. Importantly, this holistic approach may provide an enhanced roadmap for intervention, policy, and practice that effectively addresses disparities in mental health service use for Latinx youth.

Acknowledgments

We thank the families, providers, and agencies who made this research possible. We also thank María Islas-López, Ph.D., Tania Molinar-Castillo, B.A., and Skyler Leonard, Ph.D. for their contributions to data collection and transcription of data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Denver Center for Community Engagement to advance Scholarship & Learning (CCESL) [Public Good Fund].