2 - (IOP 1) Expanding the “who” of EBT Delivery: Community Health Worker Perspectives on the Acceptability and Appropriateness of Their Role in Implementing Ebts for the Latine Community

Persistent mental health disparities in treatment access combined with provider shortages necessitate innovative approaches to the delivery of evidence-based treatments (EBTs), particularly for populations underserved in standard models of mental healthcare such as Latine parents. Community health workers (CHWs) are people from the community with no formal mental health degree, but who with appropriate training can deliver EBTs resulting in significant symptom reduction, thereby offering a promising approach to address entrenched inequities. Mounting evidence across global settings demonstrates the effectiveness of CHW-delivered EBTs in addressing anxiety, depression, traumatic stress, and alcohol use, but there is little research examining these models in the U.S. Given the limited domestic research on these models, an implementation science lens is useful for understanding what factors may impact putting CHW-delivered EBTs into practice in the local implementation landscape. Toward this end, this study used the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research to assess frontline perspectives on the acceptability and appropriateness of CHWs assuming a mental health interventionist role, as these are important implementation antecedents that shape the success or failure of future EBT implementation. We conducted semi-structured interviews with Latine-serving CHWs (n = 12) and leaders of CHW programming (n = 5), with the goal of identifying pre-implementation determinants relevant to future service model development for supporting Chicago Latine parent mental health. Data was collected in English and Spanish, and analyzed by a fully bilingual and bicultural research team using rapid qualitative analyses (RQA). RQA resulted in several themes related to the acceptability and appropriateness of CHW-delivered EBTs, including relative priority and need, role boundaries, and attitudes toward intervention content. These findings will be discussed in relation to informing the development process of a CHW-delivered EBT for Latine parents, as well as in the broader context of applying mental health task-shifting models in the U.S. and important considerations for implementation.