Presently, there are many disparities affecting access to evidence-based mental health treatments for Latinx families. One proposed strategy to address these disparities is partnering with community health workers (i.e., promotoras de salud) to help families access and engage in these treatments when they are available in the community. In the current study, promotoras were trained to enhance engagement into Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), an evidence-based practice that includes training parents with young children in skills to reduce child disruptive behaviors. The study investigated perceptions of how promotoras supported parents through qualitative interviews with four parents. . This was done using Rapid Qualitative Coding to analyze the interviews with families who went through this PCIT model including promotoras. Three major themes emerged: (1) Differences between the promotoras and therapists conducting the PCIT treatment (2) Challenges in working with promotoras (3) Benefits in working with promotoras. The interviews demonstrated that families perceive more benefits than challenges when working with the promotoras. Challenges predominantly related to conducting visits via telehealth due to COVID-19. Future directions from this work should include an option for in-person meeting with the promotoras as well as gathering the promotoras perspective within this model. Overall, this study aims to spread information on the importance of including promotoras in adaptations of current evidence-based practices to make them more culturally responsive.

Unfortunately, there is a long history of clinical psychology research where Latinx women have been neglected, especially with diagnoses related to neurodevelopmental disorders like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This major oversight has had serious consequences in the Latinx community for advancement, especially in regards to psychiatric treatments. A case study on young Chicanx/Latinx women with diagnosed ADHD at University of California Santa Barbara would help identify how to best support this particularly high functioning population by investigating their experiences through a cultural lense. Participants with a diagnosis, and those without one but that demonstrate ADHD symptoms will be recruited in order to compare and contrast their experiences. Qualitative interviews will be conducted to investigate the clinical experiences for this population (or lack of), and how their cultural identity and collectivism with the Latinx community has affected their help-seeking behavior. Latinx populations typically exhibit high levels of stigma against utilizing mental health services, so investigating how to mitigate this phenomenon with new psychoeducation is crucial to improving support for this population. Participants will also be surveyed using the Day's Mental Illness Stigma Scale and the Mexican–American Cultural Values Scale for Adolescents and Adults. It is predicted that participants diagnosed with ADHD during early childhood will have significantly lower ratings on the Stigma Scale compared to those diagnosed within the last five years. However, participants who were diagnosed later in life are expected to have limited access to mental health care services, and/or parents who discouraged their help-seeking behavior.

Multidimensional family therapy (MDFT) is an intervention that supports adolescents struggling with substance abuse, emphasizing improved family communication and restructuring. While most MDFT literature focuses on English-speaking populations, it is crucial to evaluate the therapy's effectiveness in Spanish-only, bilingual (Spanish and English), and trilingual (Mixtec, Spanish, and English) households. This study involved interviews and questionnaires with three Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists, revealing key themes surrounding the practice of MDFT, such as cultural competence, family dynamics, language in therapy, and interventions for parental reconnection. Moreover, the clinicians highlighted disparities between their formal training and the policies at their practicum sites, specifically regarding cultural awareness, power shifts in families, and resource translation. These findings call for further investigation to enhance treatment outcomes for bilingual and trilingual families.

Family factors have been strongly associated as protective measures for adolescent well-being and substance use. Low parent-child conflict, parental supervision, and parent closeness are all positive protectors for adolescents, with some evidence that these associations may be particularly important for Latino/a adolescents depending on their generational status. This proposed study aims to examine parent closeness and parental support as predictors of substance use and mental well-being in a large sample of Latino/a adolescents drawn from a public-use longitudinal dataset, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). We hypothesize that in the Latino/a subset of the Add Health sample (N=2,482), parent closeness will serve as a predictor for risky substance use (i.e., alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use), and psychological well-being (i.e., self-esteem, depressive symptoms). In addition, we will explore the extent to which these associations differ for adolescents depending on their identity as first generation (21%), second generation (33%), and third and later generation (46%) Latino/a Americans. To test our hypotheses, we will conduct secondary analysis using self-reported racial-ethnic identity data and the parental support and closeness, self-esteem, depression, and substance use (i.e., alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana) measures available in the database. SPSS will be used to conduct linear regressions to test parental support and closeness as a predictor of adolescent substance use and psychological well-being. To explore differential associations by generational status, I will examine generational status as a moderator of these associations.