Despite high prevalence rates of mental illness in youth, up to 80% of U.S. youth with mental health (MH) need do not receive MH services, with the disparity in need and service use highest among racial/ethnic minority and socially disadvantaged families. MH literacy - knowledge and beliefs about the nature of problems and effective treatments – is among the most common perceptual barrier limiting the use of effective treatments. Psychoeducation, which provides basic information about MH problems and treatment options, has emerged as a promising tool for engaging families in MH care. Yet, there is limited psychoeducational content designed for underserved families that is co-developed, free, easily accessible, and available in English and Spanish.
To address this gap, we are developing, with our community partners in Santa Barbara County, a Psychoeducation Toolkit designed to engage underserved families in community-based mental health settings (CMHS). The long-term goal of the project is to achieve health equity for underserved families by co- developing a Psychoeducation Toolkit with community stakeholders and assessing implementation outcomes. Using a collaborative, iterative approach with community stakeholders in Santa Barbara County, the toolkit will ultimately be designed to increase mental health literacy, reduce stigma, and enhance help-seeking behaviors. It is expected that accomplishing this project will address community stakeholder needs to achieve health equity. As the current project is focused on implementation outcomes, future studies will examine the intended effects of the toolkit in a randomized control trial.
