REstoring mental health after COVID-19 through commUnity-based Psychological services in New York City (RECOUP-NY)

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT COVID-19 has had major mental health impacts across the United States. The economic, livelihood, social and other effects brought on by the pandemic have affected most of the national population, regardless of COVID- 19 infection. New York City (NYC) has had one of the highest COVID-19 mortality rates, and it has disproportionately affected NIH-designated U.S. health disparity populations (e.g., Black, Latinx). In humanitarian crisis such as this, there is a need for delivery of psychological interventions by non-specialists when specialists are unable to meet the increased service demand. In the U.S., training staff at community- based organizations (CBOs) to deliver psychological support has been highlighted as a way to increase availability of mental health services and increase access to mental health care, particularly for underserved populations. We propose to employ a mental health task-sharing model by partnering with CBOs in NYC to train CBO staff without professional mental health training to deliver mental health services. We will examine the impact of CBO staff delivering mental health services to (a) reduce the negative mental health consequences of the pandemic, and (b) improve public health behaviors to reduce the spread of COVID-19. We propose a cluster randomized control trial (cRCT) in NYC comparing Services as Usual (SAU arm) and delivery of mental health services with Problem Management Plus (PM+) (Intervention arm) among participating CBOs within the ThriveNYC consortium. The target condition will be depression. In Aim 1, we will evaluate mental health outcomes of COVID-19 vulnerable populations served by CBOs integrating PM+ into their other activities compared to CBOs delivering SAU. In Aim 2, we will evaluate the difference between the Intervention and SAU arms on COVID-19 risk prevention adherence among populations served by the CBOs. In Aim 3, we will evaluate implementation science outcomes to inform policy recommendations for of community-based delivery of psychological interventions and inclusion of mental health within the infectious disease response measures. Successful completion of these aims will contribute to the 2020 NIMH Strategic Plan. Specifically, a) employing implementation science to maximize the public health impact of research for improving effectiveness and reach of mental health services, especially for minority groups and other underserved populations, b) strengthening research-practice partnerships to expedite adoption, sustained implementation, and continuous improvement of evidence-based mental health services, and c) developing innovative service delivery models to dramatically improve outcomes of mental health services received in diverse communities and populations.