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Evaluation ViewAttendees 4

Technology/Digital Health
Session Type:: Symposia

Symposium 8 - Understanding and Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Latine Community College Students

Friday, November 21, 2025
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM CST
Location: Celestin D&E, Level 3
CE: 1.5

Keywords: College Students, Mental Health Disparities, Evidence-Based Practice
Level of Familiarity: Basic to Moderate
Recommended Readings: Lipson, S. K., Phillips, M. V., Winquist, N., Eisenberg, D., & Lattie, E. G. (2021). Mental health conditions among community college students: A national study of prevalence and use of treatment services. Psychiatric services, 72(10), 1126-1133. http://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.202000437,   Kodish, T., Schueller, S. M., & Lau, A. S. (2023). Barriers and strategies to improve digital mental health intervention uptake among college students of color: A modified Delphi study. Journal of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, 33(1), 10-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbct.2022.12.002,   Wen, A., Wolitzky-Taylor, K., Gibbons, R. D., & Craske, M. (2023). A randomized controlled trial on using predictive algorithm to adapt level of psychological care for community college students: STAND triaging and adapting to level of care study protocol. Trials, 24(1), 508. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-023-07441-7,   Lipson, S. K., Zhou, S., Abelson, S., Heinze, J., Jirsa, M., Morigney, J., Patterson, A., Singh, M., & Eisenberg, D. (2022). Trends in college student mental health and help-seeking by race/ethnicity: Findings from the national healthy minds study, 2013–2021. Journal of Affective Disorders, 306, 138-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.03.038,  

Community College students are much less likely to receive mental health services relative to their four-year university counterparts (Goldrick-Rab et al., 2016), even when they are identified as having significant treatment needs (Johnson et al., 2019). Research has documented that socio-cultural and economic factors exacerbate the gap in treatment initiation for CC students, who predominantly identify as racial/ethnic minorities and are more likely to come from lower income households (Jackson et al., 2019). These observed disparities are further amplified among Latine CC students, who experience multiple attitudinal and logistic barriers to mental health service, as well as social and economic stressors.

In response to observed disparities in mental health care access among Latine CC students, digital mental health interventions (DMHI) have been deployed as a means to enhance equity in care (Lattie et al., 2019a, 2019b; Muñoz et al., 2010; Kodish et al., 2021; Schueller et al., 2019). DMHIs provide an advantageous pathway for reaching and engaging CC students who often have high levels of comfort and acceptance of technology (Healthy Minds Study, 2019; Kodish et al., 2021; Lattie et al., 2019a, 2019b). The STAND (Screening and Treatment for Anxiety & Depression) program, is a tiered system of mental health care that leverages digital technology to rapidly screen and initiate personalized evidence-based treatment for college students with anxiety and depressive symptoms. Its effectiveness and acceptability are currently being examined in a sample of Latine CC students, an underresourced and often neglected population. While STAND directly addresses system-level and logistical barriers like access, clinician shortages, and convenience, barriers to initial uptake and engagement in this innovative mental health program persist.

This symposium presents four projects that 1) explore barriers and facilitators to the uptake of mental health services broadly, and a novel tiered system of mental health care specifically (STAND), using quantitative and mixed methods approaches and 2) describe a co-designed engagement intervention to improve mental health service uptake in Latine CC students. The first speaker will present focus group findings highlighting the barriers and facilitators that Latine CC students encounter during the initial phases of uptake of STAND. The second speaker will focus specifically on the role of socio-cultural factors such as familismo and stigma, and their impact on STAND uptake among Latine CC students. The third speaker will present findings from the Healthy Minds Survey that examines factors that predict an common barrier to service use among Latine CC students, perceived need. Our fourth speaker will present a project that uses focus group data (presented by the first speaker), to inform that the development of an automated text-messaging intervention to address barriers and increase uptake of STAND among Latine CC students. Our discussant, an expert in health equity and digital mental health interventions for Latines, will integrate findings from these presentations and discuss implications and strategies to better meet the needs of Latine CC students.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Gain an in-depth understanding of Latine CC students’ perspectives on barriers and facilitators of a tiered system of mental health care.
  2. Identify the influence of socio-cultural factors on mental health service use among Latine CC students.
  3. Gain knowledge about the use of novel qualitative approaches to better understand mental health disparities in Latine CC students.
  4. Describe the process of integrating qualitative findings to co-design a text messaging intervention aimed at increasing service uptake.

Presentations:

  • 3:06 PM - 3:27 PM CST
    (SYM 8) Examining the Perspectives of Latine Community College Students on Barriers and Facilitators to Initial Uptake in the STAND Program: A Qualitative Analysis

    Speaker: Francisco A. Reinosa Segovia, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – University of California, Los Angeles

    Co-author: Tamar Kodish, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of Colorado Boulder

    Co-author: Pamela Pichon, B.A. (she/her/hers) – UCLA

    Co-author: Vanessa Calderon, M.P.H., Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Scienese

    Co-author: Yesenia Aguilar Silvan, M.A. (she/her/hers) – UCLA

    Co-author: Alison Hamilton, PhD, MPH (she/her/hers) – UCLA

    Co-author: Michelle Craske, Ph.D. – University of California Los Angeles

    Co-author: Kate Wolitzky-Taylor, Ph.D. – UCLA School of Medicine

    Co-author: Denise A. Chavira, Ph.D. – University of California Los Angeles

  • 3:27 PM - 3:48 PM CST
    (SYM 8) Why Go to Therapy When We're here: Exploring the Role of Family on Latine Community College Students' Conceptualizations of Mental Health and Adoption of a Digital Mental Health Intervention

    Speaker: Vanessa Calderon, M.P.H., Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Scienese

    Co-author: Daniel Saravia, M.A. – University of California, Los Angeles

    Co-author: Matthew Wong, B.A. – UCLA

    Co-author: Alison Hamilton, PhD, MPH (she/her/hers) – UCLA

    Co-author: Robert Gibbons, PhD – University of chicago

    Co-author: Katherine Song – UCLA

    Co-author: Marissa Ramirez, N/a – UCLA

    Co-author: Michelle Craske, Ph.D. – University of California Los Angeles

    Co-author: Kate Wolitzky-Taylor, Ph.D. – UCLA School of Medicine

    Co-author: Denise A. Chavira, Ph.D. – University of California Los Angeles

  • 3:48 PM - 4:09 PM CST
    (SYM 8) Predictors of Perceived Need Among Latine Community College Students with Mental Health Symptoms

    Speaker: Daniel Saravia, M.A. – University of California, Los Angeles

    Co-author: Jean Pauline Serrano, M.A. – UCSB

    Co-author: Michael Woller, MA – UCLA

    Co-author: Denise A. Chavira, Ph.D. – University of California Los Angeles

  • 4:09 PM - 4:30 PM CST
    (SYM 8) Codesign and Pilot of a Text-messaging Intervention to Increase Uptake of Mental Health Services Among Latine Community College Students

    Speaker: Tamar Kodish, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of Colorado Boulder

    Co-author: Francisco Reinosa, PhD (he/him/his) – UCLA

    Co-author: Pamela Pichon, B.A. (she/her/hers) – UCLA

    Co-author: Michelle Craske, Ph.D. – University of California Los Angeles

    Co-author: Kate Wolitzky-Taylor, Ph.D. – UCLA School of Medicine

    Co-author: David C. Mohr, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

    Co-author: Denise A. Chavira, Ph.D. – University of California Los Angeles