Brave new world: mental health experiences of Puerto Ricans, immigrant Latinos, and Brazilians in Massachusetts.

Depression and anxiety are of the most commonly occurring mental health disorders in the United States. Despite a variety of efficacious interventions for depression and anxiety, it is clear that ethnic minorities experience mental health care disparities in their access to mental health services and the quality of treatment they receive. Research indicates that Latino heterogeneity impacts access to depression and anxiety treatment. In addition, Brazilians are becoming an increasingly visible minority within the United States and are often depicted as Latinos. The current study sought to understand the role of acculturation and stigma in mental health symptom endorsement and treatment seeking among Puerto Ricans, immigrant Latinos, and Brazilians. A total of 250 self-identified Latinos and Brazilians were interviewed about their mental health symptom and treatment experience, acculturation, and stigma toward mental illness. Results indicated considerable variability across the three groups, with Puerto Ricans endorsing higher rates of depression and anxiety, as well as higher rates of treatment seeking, than either the immigrant Latinos or the Brazilians. Acculturation played a differential role in the endorsement of anxiety treatment seeking for Brazilians. Finally, although the three groups differed in the extent to which they experienced stigma about mental health issues, stigma did not predict symptom endorsement or treatment-seeking behavior for any of the three groups. These findings underscore the importance of attending to both between-groups and within-group differences in the mental health and mental health treatment experiences of different ethnic groups.

The Latino mental health project: a local mental health needs assessment.

In this article, we present the results of a local needs assessment of the mental health experiences, service needs, and barriers to treatment-seeking of the Latino population in Worcester, Massachusetts. Overall, participants reported relatively high rates of experiences with symptoms of mental health problems, they indicated using a range of both formal and alternative mental health services, and they noted a variety of instrumental, attitudinal, and culturally-specific barriers to seeking mental health services. Findings are discussed with regards to the role that community-driven research can play in advancing efforts to provide relevant services to underserved populations.