The Latino Youth and Family Empowerment Study - III (LYFE-III): Bringing to Scale a Culturally-Adapted and Evidence-Based Intervention for Latino Families

The Latino Youth and Family Empowerment Study - III (LYFE-III): Bringing to Scale a Culturally- Adapted and Evidence-Based Intervention for Latino Families Project Summary/Abstract Latino families experience chronic stressors that place them at high risk for mental health problems. Latino youth not only report higher prevalence rates of depression than most other racial and ethnic groups, but they also report the highest rates of suicidal ideation and attempts across all minority groups. In addition, COVID-19 disparately impacted Latino families and compounded the many stressors and mental health issues that Latino families face. Indeed, Latino youth reported among the highest rates of loneliness and poor mental health during the pandemic. Despite high risk for mental health problems, Latino families in the U.S. are underserved in the mental health care system due to persistent barriers to accessing services, including discrimination, treatment costs, language barriers, and stigma. This lack of access to mental health resources for Latino families was exacerbated by the pandemic. The many stressors faced by Latino families, the havoc wreaked by COVID-19, and the lack of access to mental health care set a precarious foundation for the development of mental health problems among Latino youth, and effective preventive interventions are greatly needed. The Latino Youth and Family Empowerment - III study (LYFE-III) proposed here is an extension of the present team's preliminary work (LYFE-I and LYFE-II studies) funded by NIH and represents a unique opportunity to adapt, scale, and evaluate the efficacy of an online version of Nuestras Familias with Latino youth who are at risk for mental and behavioral health problems following the pandemic. The scientific premise of this study is based on: (a) high prevalence rates of mental and behavioral health issues among Latino youth; (b) the disparate impact of COVID-19 on Latino families; (c) the vital role of parents in their youth's mental health; and (d) persistent barriers among Latino families to accessing mental health treatment. Accordingly, the following two aims are proposed: (1) to adapt Nuestras Familias to an online format that can be widely accessed by underserved Latino families. This aim includes the fidelity monitoring, enhancing efficiency, and manualization of intervention content; and (2) conduct a hybrid type 1 effectiveness- implementation randomized controlled trial to (a) test the online program's promise while evaluating target mechanisms of action (i.e., parenting practices) and their effects on youth mental health outcomes; and (b) evaluate the feasibility, appropriateness, and acceptability of the online version of the Nuestras Familias. The present approach is innovative because it is among the first to harness digital technology to provide Latino parents with accessible evidence-based mental health resources following a global pandemic. Further, the technology underlying the intervention will be refined through a process of iterative feedback with Latino families and community partners to increase the uptake, useability, and acceptability of the intervention. These contributions will be significant because they will take an important step toward advancing mental health equity among vulnerable Latino families through increasing access to critical mental and behavioral health resources.